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Yours  Truly, 


Attraction  of  the  Compass 


A  Romance  of  the 
North,  Based  Upon 
Fadts  of  a  Personal 
Experience 


By  £  DODGE 


Press  of 

Dovk  &  Courtney 

Long  Beach,  Cal. 

1912 


Copyright,  1912 

BY  E.  DODGE 


To  all  who  are  interested  in  this  narrative  of 
my  trip  to  the  "Garden  of  Lden"  I  respectfully 
dedicate  this  book. 


Contents 

Chapter  Page 

I.  On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway         .       .         11 

II.     Storm  on  the  Lake 35 

III.  Landing  in  Dawson  City,  Y.  T.      .  43 

IV.  Three  Months  in  a  Gambling  House       .     57 
V.  Sworn  by  the   Dictionary  ....         73 

VI.     "Patent  Plaster" 83 

VII.     Starting  for  Nome 95 

VIII.     Lost  in  the  Yukon  Flats 103 

IX.  The  Mysterious  Smoke       .       .       .       .       Ill 

X.  On  the  Banks  of  the  River          .       .       .119 

XL     The   Iron   Mountain 131 

XII.     Northern  Lights 143 

XIII.  On  a  Frozen  Lake 151 

XIV.  Encounter  with  a  Wolverine         .       .       .161 
XV.     The  Great  Glacier 167 

XVI.     The  Fatal  Crevice 175 

XVII.     Crossing  the  Glacier 183 

XVIII.     The  Trail  of  the  Wolves 193 

XIX.     Reality  of  a  Dream 201 

XX.  By  the  Light  of  the  Lake              .              .  21 1 

XXI.  Entering  a  New  Found  Country                  221 

XXII.     The  City  of  Tyron 229 

XXIII.  The  Chief 245 

XXIV.  Marriage  Laws 259 

XXV.     The  Lost  Love 265 

XXVI.     Woman's  Scorn 273 

XXVII.  Reading  of  the  Parchment  ....       283 

XXVIII.     The  Wedding 291 

XXIX.     Leaving  the  Country 303 


Attraction  of  the  Compass 


CHAPTER  I 

ON   THE   TRAIL   ABOVE   SKAGWAY 

"Hey  there,  move  on !  move  on  !  What's  the  trou- 
ble ahead  there?  Do  we  have  to  stay  here  all 
night?"  This  remark  could  be  heard  passing  along 
the  line  of  people  who  were  struggling  their  way 
toward  the  summit,  on  the  trail  above  Skagway. 

Dogteams  and  horses,  but  for  the  most  part  peo- 
ple pulling  their  own  sleds,  could  be  seen  in  a  solid 
line  for  two  and  a  half  miles,  reminding  one  of  a 
parade — or  perhaps  of  a  funeral,  for  there  was  many 
a  groan,  sigh  and  heartache  on  the  Skagway  trail  in 
the  year  1897. 

Every  now  and  then  a  delay  occurred,  as  a 
sled  upset  or  left  the  trail,  or  perhaps  a  horse  died 
from  exertion,  or  someone  was  taken  ill  and  had 
to  turn  back.     Possibly  a  horse  fell  over  the  cliff, 


12  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

taking  the  sled  with  him.  ''Dead  Horse  Canyon" 
received  its  name  from  the  fact  that  so  many  horses 
died  on  the  trail  at  this  point.  All  of  these  things 
caused  blockades  and  delays. 

Wet  with  sweat  from  pushing  the  load  and  driv- 
ing my  little  dog-team  up  the  steep  trail,  I  sat  there 
on  my  sled  waiting  for  the  crowd  to  move  on,  for 
there  was  no  way  of  passing  the  other  sleds  with- 
out wading  into  the  deep  snow  and  pulling  my  load, 
which  would  have  been  impossible.  A  beautiful  lit- 
tle Scandinavian  girl  was  wedging  her  way  past  me, 
when  suddenly  her  foot  slipped,  and  she  started 
over  the  cliff.  Grabbing  hold  of  the  rope  which 
lashed  my  load  on  the  sled,  I  reached  over  with  the 
other  hand  and  caught  her,  and  pulled  her  back. 
Of  course  the  fall  would  not  have  hurt  her  much, 
but  at  the  foot  of  this  cliff  was  a  twenty-foot  snow- 
drift, in  which  she  would  have  suffocated  had  she 
reached  it. 

In  a  joking  way  I  said  to  her,  "Where  are  you 
going,  my  pretty  maid  ?  Are  you  traveling  or  going 
somewhere,  or  just  coming  back?"  She  replied,  "I 
tank  I  go  to  Dawson.    I  not  know,  but  I  tank  so." 

"If  you  had  gone  over  that  cliff,  I  don't  tank  you 
would  have  gone  any  farther,"  I  answered. 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  13 

Just  then  we  could  hear  the  cry  going  up  the  line, 
"Move  on,  move  on ;  night  is  coming  and  we'll  have 
to  stay  here  over  night  without  shelter" ;  and  sure 
enough,  a  balky  horse  on  ahead  caused  us  to  spend 
the  night  on  the  trail.  I  stretched  a  tarpaulin  that 
I  had  between  my  sled  and  the  one  ahead  of  me, 
which  formed  a  little  tent ;  this  was  repeated  by 
others  on  up  the  line.  We  were  in  for  the  night. 
It  would  not  do  to  move  on  after  dark,  for  at  night 
a  snow-covered  canyon  looks  like  a  prairie,  and  you 
cannot  keep  the  trail,  and  would  not  know  what 
minute  you  might  get  into  the  deep  snow,  or  fall 
over  some  cliff ;  for  it  all  looks  white  and  level. 

The  little  Scandinavian  girl  did  not  seem  to  have 
any  friends  or  anyone  with  her,  so  I  invited  her  to 
share  with  me,  and  my  two  dogs,  the  little  shelter 
which  my  tarpaulin  afforded ;  but  it  was  very  little 
shelter,  for  through  the  White  Pass  Canyon  the 
wind  has  no  mercy  for  any  living  thing,  and  that 
night  many  a  horse  in  the  line  perished ;  and  over 
our  heads  we  could  hear  the  Russian  raven  screech- 
ing with  cold  as  he  sought  for  shelter.  But  we  sat 
there  huddled  together,  for  to  lie  down  meant  to 
perish  with  the  cold  and  wind.  If  anyone  has  ever 
gone  through  the  White  Pass  Canyon  above  Skag- 


14  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

way  on  foot,  he  will  never  forget  the  experience. 

I  kept  up  a  constant  conversation  with  the  little 
girl  nearly  all  night,  to  keep  her  from  falling  asleep ; 
for  I  could  hear  the  groans  of  dogs  and  men  in  the 
line  and  did  not  know  what  next  might  befall  us. 

During  the  night  she  told  me  a  pitiful  story  of 
how  she  had  started  for  Alaska  from  Chicago  in 
search  of  her  two  brothers,  who  had  gone  there  the 
year  before  with  the  first  big  gold  rush.  They  had 
written  her  to  come  on  and  they  would  meet  her  in 
Skagway,  the  first  point  reached  in  Alaska,  as  you 
travel  towards  the  Yukon  Territory,  perhaps  known 
to  you,  reader,  as  "Klondike."  After  waiting  there 
many  weeks,  during  which  time  she  had  used  what 
little  money  she  had,  she  decided  to  hit  the  trail,  with 
the  rest  of  the  crowd,  for  Dawson.  She  had  few 
supplies,  but  was  blessed  with  a  strong  constitution, 
a  sweet,  winning  smile,  and  a  wonderful  determina- 
tion. 

She  explained  to  me  that  her  brothers  were  good, 
honest  men  and  were  always  anxious  to  do  for  her 
as  brothers  should,  but  when  liquor  was  placed  in 
their  path  their  ways  of  honor  and  honesty  were 
lost. 

The  girl's  story  of  her  sorrows  was  a  sad  one, 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  15 

and  the  night  passed  more  quickly  in  conversation 
with  her,  as  she  was  very  interesting,  although  she 
could  not  speak  English  plainly.  Towards  morning 
we  fell  asleep,  in  spite  of  the  cold  and  discomfort. 

Dawn  came  at  last,  and  there  was  a  stir  all  up 
and  down  the  line,  men  swearing  and  dogs  barking. 
Camp  fires  were  started  as  far  ahead  as  we  could 
see,  but  breakfast  was  a  slow  process,  as  snow  had 
to  be  melted  for  water,  and  one  thing  cooked  at  a 
time.  The  girl  and  I  did  not  light  a  fire,  as  there 
happened  to  be  no  birch  bark  or  wood  near  us,  and 
the  snow  was  too  deep  at  this  point  to  leave  the 
beaten  trail,  so  we  made  our  breakfast  of  hardtack 
and  frozen  chipped  beef. 

About  half  past  nine  the  line  moved  on,  perhaps 
for  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  when  suddenly  one  of  the 
horses  ahead  turned  completely  around  in  his  har- 
ness, and  decided  to  come  back.  This  upset  many 
sleds,  and  it  was  nearly  twelve  o'clock  before  we  got 
started  again.  After  that  there  were  one  or  two 
short  stops,  and  we  reached  White  Pass,  only  to 
find  every  stopping-place  and  roadhouse  full  to  the 
brim.  It  was  impossible  to  even  get  into  the  door 
of  any  place  of  shelter. 

At  this  time   ten   thousand   people   occupied   the 


16  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

town,  while  today  all  that  remains  to  mark  the  spot 
are  a  few  old  tent  frames,  with  remnants  of  canvas 
flying  in  the  air,  giving  it  a  ghost-like  appearance 
to  anyone  who  had  passed  through  the  town  in  its 
booming  days. 

Away  off  at  one  part  of  the  town  I  could  see  a 
large  tent-house,  seemingly  unoccupied,  so  leaving 
the  dogs  to  watch  our  outfit,  the  girl  and  I  forced 
our  way  through  the  snow  to  this  tent-house,  and 
found  it  fastened  up.  We  broke  in  the  door  and  it 
proved  to  be  an  unoccupied  gambling  house,  so  I  re- 
turned for  the  dogs  and  outfit. 

We  made  our  bunks  on  the  gambling  tables, 
for  the  howling  wind  drifted  the  snow  through 
the  cracks  in  the  floor,  in  places,  a  foot  deep. 
There  was  no  chance  for  a  fire  in  this  tent, 
so  we  ate  supper  of  frozen  food,  and  although 
wrapped  up  in  blankets,  with  our  clothing  wet  with 
sweat,  we  suffered  all  night  with  the  cold,  and  shook 
like  dogs  on  a  door  mat,  until  our  flesh  was  sore 
with  shivering.  Such  are  the  pleasures  of  Alaska. 
We  were  glad  to  get  up  in  the  morning  and  resume 
the  journey. 

As  we  started  out,  we  met  a  packer  with  whom  I 
was    slightly    acquainted,    who    was    to    stay    over 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  17 

night  at  White  Pass  on  his  way  back  to  Skagway 
from  the  summit.  He  had  an  extra  horse,  which 
I  asked  him  to  lend  me  to  pull  my  outfit  the  re- 
maining two  and  a  half  miles  to  Summit  Lake,  where 
there  was  a  road-house  called  Camp  Rescue,  with 
the  agreement  that  I  would  return  the  horse  to  him 
that  night ;  for  my  two  dogs  were  exhausted,  being 
green  in  the  harness,  and  not  natives  of  Alaska. 

The  rest  of  the  way  to  the  summit  I  walked 
ahead  and  led  the  horse  on  the  narrow  trail,  and 
the  girl  kept  the  sled  from  upsetting  by  holding 
the  handles,  which  were  on  the  back  of  the  sled,  like 
plow-handles. 

She  was  always  cheerful,  although  her  breath  had 
frozen  into  icicles  on  her  blonde  hair,  which  clung 
around  her  face,  and  now  and  then  when  she  put 
her  shoulder  against  the  load  on  the  sled  to  steady 
it,  I  realized  what  a  helpmate  a  woman  could  be 
after  all,  and  only  wished  she  were  mine. 

In  this  manner  we  struggled  up  the  trail,  until 
we  reached  Camp  Rescue  about  half  past  four  in 
the  afternoon ;  but  when  I  had  a  look  at  the  place, 
I  wanted  to  change  the  name  to  Camp  Devil,  for 
every  man  there  seemed  to  be  drunk.  It  was  a  tent, 
about  40x60  feet  in  size,  in  the  middle  of  Summit 


18  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Lake,  on  the  ice,  and  in  it  there  were  bunks,  cook- 
stove,  long  table  and  a  bar ;  dogs  so  thick  under 
foot  one  could  hardly  step ;  men  swearing,  smoking, 
and  drinking,  all  in  one  room — but  it  was  this  or 
nothing,  so  we  ventured  in,  and  were  served  with  a 
good  hot  meal,  the  first  warm  food  we  had  tasted 
for  two  days. 

The  bunks  in  this  road-house  were  made  of  can- 
vas stretched  across  poles,  one  tier  above  another. 
I  selected  one  of  these  for  the  girl,  as  far  away  from 
the  drinking  crowd  as  possible. 

"Now,  little  girl,"  I  said,  "I  must  return  with  the 
horse,  and  will  have  to  leave  you  here  with  this 
drunken  bunch." 

"I  tank  I  be  all  right,  for  when  I  come  in  they 
don't  swear  no  more,"  to  which  I  replied,  "Well,  I 
will  come  back  tonight.    You  can  depend  upon  it." 

Just  then  a  man  stuck  his  head  in  the  door,  shout- 
ing, "Who  in  h does  this  horse  belong  to?  Are 

you  going  to  let  him  stand  out  here  and  freeze  to 
death  ?" 

"No,  sir,"  I  said,  "I'm  going  to  return  down  the 
trail  to  White  Pass  with  him  tonight." 

"Then  you'll  stay  down  there  tonight,  will  you?" 
he  asked. 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  19 

"No,  I  will  come  back." 

"You  may  think  you  will,  but  you'll  never  get 
back  here  again  tonight,  for  tonight  it  will  be  thirty 
below  zero,  and  dark  as  a  dungeon,  and  you'll  do 
well  to  make  White  Pass  before  dark,  without  try- 
ing to  get  back  here." 

These  last  words  I  could  hear  in  the  distance,  for 
I  had  already  hit  the  loose  horse  a  cut,  which 
started  him  at  a  gallop  down  the  trail  towards 
White  Pass,  I  following  close  at  his  heels. 

On  my  way  down  the  trail,  I  met  one  or  two  men 
who  advised  me  not  to  undertake  the  trip  so  late, 
for  I  would  not  be  able  to  find  my  way  back  that 
night ;  but  I  was  as  good  as  my  word.  I  had 
promised  to  return  the  horse  that  night,  so  I  hur- 
ried on  down  the  trail  to  White  Pass,  which  was 
easy.  Finding  the  man,  I  returned  his  horse,  and 
told  him  I  had  to  get  back  to  Camp  Rescue  that 
night. 

"You  can't  make  it,"  said  he.  "You  can't  make  it, 
for  it  is  so  dark  already  that  you  cannot  see  the 
trail,  and  you  will  surely  get  lost." 

I  told  him  that  I  must  return,  and  return  I  would, 
at  the  risk  of  my  life,  so  to  help  me,  he  lit  a  lan- 
tern and  gave  it  to  me.     I  had  gone  only  a  short 


20  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

way  when  the  lantern  went  out. 

It  seemed  impossible  to  light  it  again,  for  the 
wind  was  blowing  a  gale,  so  I  threw  it  aside  and 
started  on,  as  I  thought  that  I  must  get  back.  I 
had  left  my  new-found  charge  in  a  den  of  drunk- 
ards, and  at  their  mercy,  with  no  one  to  protect 
her ;  and  I  could  see  them  insulting  her,  pulling 
her  out  of  her  bunk,  and  forcing  her  to  drink ;  and 
with  this  picture  before  me,  I  was  bound  to  reach 
the  camp  that  night. 

I  had  gone  only  a  short  distance  when  I  found 
myself  in  three  or  four  feet  of  snow,  and  then 
realized  that  I  was  off  the  trail.  Looking  around 
me,  I  found  that  all  was  white  and  level,  resembling 
a  prairie  covered  with  snow.  Seemingly,  there  was 
no  up  hill,  down  hill,  or  trail.  I  could  not  tell 
which  was  forward  or  backward ;  in  what  direction 
I  had  come ;  or  in  what  direction  I  should  go. 

A  little  distance  from  me,  I  saw  a  scrubby  tree 
that  I  thought  I  remembered  passing  on  my  trip 
that  day,  and  in  attempting  to  reach  it,  I  continued 
to  struggle  through  deep  snow,  without  finding  any 
trail.  But  I  soon  found  that  I  was  going  up  hill, 
and  then  remembered  that  the  beaten  trail  was  be- 
low this  tree,  so  started  down  hill  again.     A  little 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  21 

further  on,  the  snow  slipped  under  my  feet  and  I 
slid  over  the  edge  of  a  rock  and  fell  about  fifteen 
feet,  landing  on  one  knee,  Fairly  screaming  with 
pain,  I  undertook  to  get  up,  but  could  not  stand 
on  my  right  leg,  so  sat  down  and  felt  around  me. 
I  found  that  by  this  accident  I  had  landed  on  the 
hard  trail  again,  but  was  now  crippled  so  badly 
I  could  not  stand,  and  there  seemed  nothing  left 
for  me  but  to  freeze  to  death  on  the  trail,  as  many 
had  done  before  me. 

I  never  did  have  courage  to  die,  although  I  had 
courage  to  do  most  any  other  thing,  so  I  started 
out  on  this  trail,  crawling  on  my  hands  and  one 
knee,  dragging  the  other  leg,  and  feeling  along  care- 
fully for  the  trail. 

Presently  I  could  shove  my  hands  into  loose 
snow  all  around  me,  yet  a  moment  before  there 
was  a  good  trail.  This  puzzled  me,  but  feeling 
ahead  under  the  snow,  I  found  it  to  be  a 
drift  that  the  wind  had  blown  across  the  trail.  I 
was  convinced  of  this,  for  under  the  snow  I  could 
still  find  the  prints  of  the  horses'  shoes. 

So  I  clambered  over  the  snowdrift,  in  this  crip- 
pled condition,  and  crawled  on,  stopping  now  and 
then,  as  the  frost-fiend  nipped  my  fingers,  to  whip 


22  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

my  arms  around  my  body  to  keep  from  freezing;. 
Once  or  twice  I  gave  up,  thinking  it  impossible  to 
reach  the  summit,  but  again  I  thought  of  the  weak- 
lings who  often  died  on  the  trail.  Was  I  one  of 
them,  to  give  up  like  this?  Must  I  lie  down  here 
and  fail?  No,  no,  not  yet,  so  I  blindly  groped  along 
in  the  dark,  despite  the  wind  and  cold.  Hour  after 
hour  I  felt  my  way  along  the  trail  with  bare  hands, 
for  I  had  taken  off  my  mittens,  as  they  were  wet 
and  frozen.  I  slowly  worked  along  a  few  feet  at  a 
time,  until  in  the  distance  I  heard  a  dog  barking; 
and  then  I  wished  that  I  had  brought  my  leader 
dog  with  me,  for  he  could  find  a  trail  day  or  night. 

Suddenly  I  felt  the  snow  slipping  under  my 
hands  and  I  again  fell  about  twelve  feet,  and  must 
have  landed  on  my  head,  for  this  time  I  was  stunned 
and  lay  in  a  stupor  for  I  don't  know  how  long. 
When  I  became  conscious,  I  found  myself  on  a 
sled,  and  the  little  Scandinavian  girl,  Minnie,  driv- 
ing my  two  dogs  toward  the  summit. 

She  explained  that  as  my  leader  dog  kept  up  a 
constant  barking,  she  grew  worried,  and  hitched 
him  up  with  the  other  dog  and  started  to  find  me. 
He  came  straight  to  me,  although  she  tried  to  keep 
him  on  the  trail,  but  in  spite  of  her  he  took  the 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  23 

"railroad  cut,"  into  which  I  had  fallen. 

Dawn  was  now  breaking,  and  I  looked  up  at  her 
as  she  stood  on  the  back  of  the  sled  between  the 
handle  bars,  cracking  the  whip  in  the  frosty  air 
and  shouting  to  the  dogs,  "Mush  on !  mush  on !" 

"You  are  surely  a  friend  in  need,  and  I  owe  my 
life  to  you,"  I  said. 

"No,  no,  not  to  me,"  she  answered,  "but  to  the 
dog,  for  if  I  did  not  come  he  come  alone." 

I  closed  my  eyes  again,  my  head  being  dizzy 
from  the  fall ;  and  the  two  faithful  dogs,  with  the 
aid  of  the  little  girl,  soon  brought  me  in  front  of 
Camp  Rescue.  The  leader  dog  whined  and  jumped 
on  me,  and  licked  my  face,  trying  to  show  me  that 
he,  too,  was  my  friend,  for  at  times  he  was  very 
jealous  of  little  Minnie. 

I  found  that  anxiety  about  my  little  compan- 
ion left  alone  at  the  road  house  was  unnecessary, 
as  later  on  I  learned  that  a  woman  is  safer  in  Alaska 
in  the  company  of  a  drunken  miner,  than  she 
would  be  left  alone  with  the  average  so-called  gen- 
tleman in  a  city. 

After  two  days'  careful  nursing,  I  was  able  to 
go  on  the  trail  again,  so  we  headed  for  Log  Cabin, 
but  my  leg  was  stiff  for  the  rest  of  that  winter. 


24  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Being  forced  to  use  it  constantly,  by  spring  it  was 
as  good  as  ever.  As  usual,  on  the  trail  before  us 
and  behind  us  were  long  strings  of  teams  and  peo- 
ple, working  their  way  to  the  gold-strike.  We  had 
not  gone  more  than  three  miles  when  there  came 
another  blockade,  similar  to  the  one  on  the  summit. 
We  were  forced  to  stay  there  until  night,  but  it 
was  moonlight,  and  a  little  distance  from  us  we 
could  see  teams  returning  on  another  trail.  1  sug- 
gested to  Minnie,  that  as  we  had  no  horses,  we 
might  work  our  way  across  through  the  deep  snow, 
until  we  reached  the  other  trail. 

When  we  started,  one  of  the  horses  from  a  load 
ahead  broke  loose  and  followed  us  like  a  dog, 
and  seemed  to  be  afraid  to  leave  us.  Our  load 
was  heavy,  and  the  tired  dogs  wanted  to  stop, 
which  they  did  very  often,  and  every  time  we 
stopped  the  horse  stopped  also.  At  last  we  decided  to 
hitch  him  up  to  the  sled,  so  pushed  it  to  one  side 
of  the  trail  as  far  as  possible,  and  by  a  good  deal 
of  effort  got  the  horse  past  the  sled,  then  hitched 
the  rope  to  the  traces.  I  sat  on  the  front  of  the 
sled  and  held  the  traces  apart  with  my  feet,  to  keep 
them  from  rubbing  the  horse's  legs,  and  I  tell  you 
we  made  camp  fast,  for  all  he  needed  was  a  driver. 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  25 

The  horse  seemed  to  realize  how  careful  he  had 
to  be,  with  our  little  camp  sled  hitched  close  to  his 
heels.  Every  now  and  then  one  of  his  feet  would 
go  through  the  beaten  trail  into  the  soft  snow,  and 
he  would  fairly  leap  into  the  air,  to  keep  from 
floundering.  He  took  us  right  through  to  Log 
Cabin  without  a  stop. 

I  did  not  know  whose  horse  it  was,  but  took  it 
straight  to  the  stable  and  reported  it  just  as  it 
happened,  and  the  owner  found  him  a  few  days 
afterwards. 

The  next  day  we  heard  of  the  big  strike  in  the 
Atlin  country,  British  Columbia.  Instead  of  con- 
tinuing our  journey  to  Dawson,  I  persuaded  Minnie 
to  accompany  me  to  the  Atlin  country,  which  was 
only  a  short  distance  of  ninety  miles,  explaining  to 
her  that  we  could  at  least  make  some  money  there, 
as  we  were  short  of  funds,  and  it  would  be  best  to 
go  down  the  Yukon  River  in  the  spring,  when  we 
could  go  by  steamer  and  pay  our  fare.  She  con- 
sented, and  we  made  our  way  from  Log  Cabin  to 
Atlin ;  but  took  a  new  trail  called  the  Toochi,  that 
came  out  at  what  was  known  as  Windy  Arm. 

When  we  were  half  way  to  Windy  Arm,  there 
came  a  big  snow-storm,  compelling  us  to  lay  over 


26  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

until  some  heavy  teams  passed  that  way  to  break 
the  trail,  for  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  pull  our 
outfit  through  the  soft  snow.  While  there,  several 
other  outfits  caught  up  with  us,  and  Minnie,  the 
only  woman,  did  the  cooking  for  the  crowd,  receiv- 
ing one  dollar  for  each  man  she  served,  for  a  wo- 
man's cooking  in  that  country  is  more  highly 
appreciated  than  any  treat  that  could  be  offered 
a  man.  We  saw  a  grand  opportunity  here  to  ''make 
a  stake,"  so  pitched  our  tents,  then  made  a  cabin  of 
logs  and  brush,  and  started  a  road  house  that  was 
afterwards  nicknamed  the  "Dodge  Inn." 

We  stayed  there  three  months,  buying  our  pro- 
visions from  passersby,  and  feeding  the  hungry 
teamsters,  as  they  worked  their  way  to  the  big  Atlin 
strike.  We  made  one  kind  of  soup  three  times  a 
day  for  three  months  and  it  was  always  appre- 
ciated, for  there  was  a  new  man  to  eat  it  at  each 
meal. 

The  trail  crossed  Lake  Toochi,  which  was  a  treach- 
erous lake,  sometimes  freezing  to  the  bottom  and 
overflowing,  then  freezing  a  thin  layer  of  ice  which 
would  not  support  the  weight  of  a  man.  Often  the 
stampeders,  getting  lost  from  the  trail,  would  break 
through    and    their    feet    would   be    frozen    before 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  27 

help  could  arrive. 

My  leader  dog  must  have  been  some  relation  to 
the  St.  Bernards  on  the  Alps,  for  he  would  always 
set  up  a  bark  and  howl  if  anyone  was  lost  on  the 
lake,  just  as  he  did  when  he  found  me,  stunned 
and  half  frozen,  on  the  summit.  Many  a  night  I 
was  awakened  from  a  sound  sleep  to  work  myself 
into  a  heavy  sheepskin  coat,  or  perhaps  a  parka, 
hitch  up  the  dogs,  and  start  over  the  lake  in  total 
darkness,  trusting  entirely  to  my  leader  to  hunt  up 
some  freezing  man  who  was  crying  for  help — and  he 
always  found  him. 

This  leader,  Stub,  as  I  called  him,  took  delight  in 
this  work,  and  always  seemed  to  realize  what  it 
meant.  Many  a  frozen-footed  man  I  have  brought 
into  camp  in  the  night,  when  perhaps  my  own  feet 
would  be  soaking  wet,  and  frost-bitten.  I  would 
bring  them  in,  pack  their  feet  in  a  box  of  ice,  set 
them  close  to  the  roaring  fire  in  the  Yukon  stove, 
and  give  them  a  big  bowl  of  that  famous  soup.  If 
any  of  you  who  were  there  happen  to  be  reading 
this  story,  I  wish  to  tell  you  that  this  soup  was 
made  of  canned  horse.  It  was  worth  my  life  to 
tell  you  at  that  time. 

The  temptation  of  money  caused  us  to  remain 


28  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

on  this  trail  too  long,  and  the  warm  sunshine  ate 
holes  in  the  ice,  until  it  was  not  safe.  In  Alaska, 
they  say  the  "ice-worm  is  doing  its  work,''  and 
many  a  newcomer  believes  it.  However,  there 
really  is  a  snow-flea. 

The  Chinook  winds  came  early,  and  the  trail  on 
the  lake  broke  up  so  quickly  that  we  were  forced 
to  blaze  a  new  trail  through  the  woods,  and  pack 
the  outfits  on  our  backs  part  of  the  way,  but  event- 
ually we  reached  Caribou  Crossing,  a  place  well- 
known  to  "sour-doughs,"  or  old-timers. 

Remember  that  this  was  in  the  days  before  rail- 
roads existed  in  that  country,  even  before  Rackett 
took  possession  of  the  trail  out  of  Skagway  and 
made  it  into  a  toll-road,  even  before  Porcupine  Hill 
was  used  for  a  trail — about  the  time  that  Soapy 
Smith  was  shot  in  Skagway. 

You  don't  know  Soapy  Smith?  Why,  he  and 
Concertine  and  Chancy  were  the  originators  of  the 
Order  of  the  National  Bird  in  Skagway;  but  the 
Order  of  the  Arctic  Brotherhood,  law-abiding  citi- 
zens, put  them  to  flight  by  shooting  the  leader.  Soapy 
Smith.  They  buried  him  outside  of  the  graveyard, 
where  his  remains  lie  until  this  day,  despite  the 
thousands  and  thousands  of  brother  National  Birds, 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  29 

who  promised  to  be  loyal  to  the  dead.  There  is  a 
little  square  post  at  his  head,  and  it  is  always  pointed 
out  to  visitors  with  shame ;  for  a  greater  outlaw 
was  never  known  in  Alaska  than  the  leader  of  the 
Soapy  Smith  gang;  but  none  of  them  were  ever 
permitted  to  set  foot  on  Canadian  soil  with  the 
knowledge  of  the  mounted  police,  for  these  outlaws 
had  as  bad  a  reputation  as  the  Jesse  James  gang. 

One  hard  day  after  another  passed,  and  as  the 
warm  summer  days  came,  we  at  last  landed  safely 
in  Atlin.  There  were  thousands  of  disappointed 
and  heartbroken  people  here,  some  of  them  with  too 
much  outfit,  and  some  of  them  with  none.  I  was 
never  the  person  to  give  up  when  I  had  started 
anywhere,  so  continued  my  journey  seven  miles  up 
Pine  Creek  to  Discovery,  and  on  my  way  was 
forced  to  climb  a  long,  steep  hill,  for  at  that  time 
the  trail  passed  this  way.  At  the  top  of  the  hill, 
exhausted  and  thirsty — I  was  never  so  dry  in  my 
life — I  would  have  given  a  dollar  for  one  drink  of 
water ;  but  there  was  none  to  be  had  anywhere. 
There  were  hundreds  of  people  passing  this  way, 
each  one  with  the  same  thirst.  This  gave  me  an 
idea,  so  I  decided  to  pitch  camp  again  at  the  top  of 
this  hill,  and  sell  water,  or  lemonade. 


30  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

I  searched  for  the  nearest  watering  place,  and 
found  a  spring  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  down  a 
steep  hill.  Catching  a  loose,  abandoned  horse,  of 
which  there  were  plenty  in  this  country,  I  made  a 
harness  out  of  gunny  sacks  and  ropes,  and  with  his 
aid,  dragged  some  logs  to  a  favorable  spot  on  top 
of  this  hill.  Here  I  built  my  road-house,  the  lower 
part  being  of  logs,  and  the  top  of  canvas.  I  then 
rigged  a  windlass  and  tramway  to  hoist  the  water 
from  the  spring  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  so  that  it 
would  not  have  to  be  carried,  and  sold  lemonade  by 
the  glass  for  twenty-five  cents,  the  smallest  piece 
of  money  ever  used  in  that  country.  Like  the  non- 
plussed milkman,  when  shown  a  cow  and  asked 
what  it  was,  if  you  had  shown  me  a  lemon  at  that 
time  I  would  not  have  recognized  it,  having 
used   citric  acid. 

We  made  money  hand  over  fist  that  summer, 
but  pretty  soon  the  country  went  to  smash,  when 
the  Alien  Law  was  passed.  The  American  people 
would  not  appreciate  the  fact  that  what  was  good 
for  the  goose  would  be  good  for  the  gander;  and 
when  the  British  Columbia  law  said  that  an  Amer- 
ican had  to  become  a  Canadian  in  order  to  stake 
mining    property,    they    objected ;    nevertheless,    a 


On  the  Trail  Above  Skagway  31 

Canadian  has  to  become  an  American  to  stake  min- 
ing property  in  the  United  States.  The  Americans 
would  not  look  at  it  in  this  way,  and  abandoned  the 
country. 


Storm  on  the  Lake 


CHAPTER  II. 


STORM    ON    THE   LAKE. 


There  being  no  more  lemonade  business  for  us, 
we  packed  our  remaining  outfit,  and  Minnie  and 
I,  with  others,  worked  our  way  from  Atlin  to  Daw- 
son on  a  scow,  which  was  built  and  owned  by  an 
old  sea  captain,  who  had  his  own  ideas  about  a 
scow.  He  put  on  a  large  mast  like  a  sailing  vessel, 
used  the  fly  of  a  tent  for  a  sail,  and  a  rudder  like 
a  canal  boat,  and  after  it  was  finished  it  looked 
like  a  Chinese  junk.  The  sail  was  made  fast  to 
the  sides  of  the  scow  with  two  blocks  and  tackles 
at  the  lower  corners.  We  sure  could  go  some  when 
we  had  a  fair  wind,  and  the  jolly  old  tar,  with  a 
row  of  whiskers  under  his  chin,  stood  at  the  rud- 
der. We  had  another  smaller  scow  hitched  on  be- 
hind, towing  it;  and  we  sailed  calmly  across  the 
Atlin  lake  and  floated  through  Atlin  River  into 
Lake  Bennett. 

Part  way  across  Lake  Bennett,  we  came  to  the 


36  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

outlet  of  the  lake,  where  it  empties  into  Lake 
Le  Barge.  We  had  no  more  than  entered  this  lake 
when  a  strong  breeze  sprang  up,  off  shore,  and  the 
old  captain,  with  his  grizzled  face  beaming,  ex- 
claimed :  "Ah,  lads,  there's  a  fair  breeze  off  shore, 
and  we'll  make  the  thirty  miles  across  this  lake  in 
three  shakes  of  a  lamb's  tail." 

Of  course  none  of  us  knew  anything  about  this 
lake,  but  we  had  our  bearings.  As  we  got  out  to- 
ward the  center,  the  wind  blew  harder  and  harder, 
and  riding  ahead  of  the  wind,  reminded  me  of  a 
whaling  vessel,  when  the  crew  would  "split  the 
sheet."  This  is  a  term  used  by  sailors  when  a  sail 
is  thrown  both  ways,  a  very  dangerous  thing  to  do, 
and  only  undertaken  by  expert  sailors  on  cod-fish- 
ing and  whaling  vessels. 

Our  big,  square  sail  was  as  large  as  the  scow,  and 
it  creaked  and  groaned  as  the  wind,  in  its  fury, 
fairly  split  the  water  and  sent  the  spray  dashing 
over  the  sides  of  the  scow. 

Soon  the  wind  became  so  strong  that  the  old  cap- 
tain shouted,  "Lower  the  sail !"  but  it  was  too  late. 
He  had  no  more  than  said  this  when  the  ropes  hold- 
ing the  sail  to  the  scow  on  either  side  broke,  and 
the  sail  went  into  the  air,  and  beat  and  whipped 


Storm  on  the  Lake  37 

like  a  great  flag,  or  sheet,  over  our  heads. 

I  will  never  forget  that  beating  sound,  as  the  old 
captain,  for  the  third  time  cried  out,  "Lower  that 
sail !"  but  try  as  we  might,  it  would  not  come  down. 

"Then  go  aloft  and  lower  it !"  he  screamed. 

So  I  scaled  the  mast  in  that  terrible  wind,  and  by 
cutting  one  of  the  ropes,  lowered  the  cross-arm  and 
sail  with  my  weight.  There  was  such  a  strain  on 
the  sail,  as  it  beat  in  the  air,  that  even  with  my 
weight  the  rings  slipped  but  slowly  down  the  mast, 
and  when  my  feet  touched  the  deck  again,  I  could 
not  stand  from  exhaustion.  The  force  of  the  wind 
was  so  great  that  it  blew  our  scow  the  rest  of  the 
way  across  the  lake  without  a  sail,  and  landed  us 
high  and  dry  on  the  beach. 

After  two  days'  hard  work,  we  succeeded  in 
launching  it  again,  and  entered  the  Yukon  River. 
We  floated  easily  along  until  we  reached  Miles 
Canyon,  shot  the  dangerous  White  Horse  Rapids, 
and  dashed  our  way  through  Five  Fingers,  all  well 
known  places  along  the  Yukon  River. 

So  in  the  year  1898  we  landed  in  Dawson  City, 
Yukon  Territory,  commonly  called  ''Klondike,"  an 
Indian  word  meaning  "rich  find,"  and  used  by  the 
Indians  of  that  country  in  the  same  manner  as  the 


38  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

word  "Eureka"  was  used  by  Christopher  Columbus, 
upon  his  landing  in  America. 

An  Indian  always  exclaims  "Klondike"  over  any 
new-found  treasure,  whether  it  be  gold,  moccasins 
he  may  have  lost,  or  a  new  sweetheart  he  had  found. 
Use  being  the  law  of  language,  "Klondike"  was 
eventually  adopted  to  name  the  district  of  which 
Dawson  is  the  center,  covering  a  space  of  only  a 
few  miles.  It  is  known  to  the  people  there  as  the 
Yukon  Territory,  down  to  Forty  Mile  (which  is  the 
dividing  line  between  Alaska,  which  belongs  to  the 
United  States,  and  the  Yukon  Territory,  which 
belongs  to  Canada. 


Landing  in  Dawson  City,  Y.  T. 


CHAPTER  III. 

LANDING   IN  DAWSON   CITY,  YUKON   TERRITORY. 

Yes,  we  landed  in  Dawson,  cold,  wet,  and  hun- 
gry, after  floating  down  the  Yukon  River  from 
Atlin.  It  was  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  and  our  scow 
was  one  of  the  last  down  the  river,  and  we  daily 
expected  it  to  be  frozen  in,  before  we  could  reach 
Dawson. 

My  complete  outfit  consisted  of  a  sled  and  two 
hundred  pounds  of  provisions,  my  blankets  and 
three  dogs ;  for  while  stranded  for  several  days  on 
the  sand  bar  of  an  island  in  the  Yukon  River,  we 
had  adopted  a  poor,  starved  dog,  which  had  been 
abandoned  the  winter  before,  or  had  strayed  from 
some  camp. 

Upon  landing  in  Dawson  I  had  but  two  dollars 
and  a  big  responsibility.  In  those  days  two  dollars 
would  not  go  far,  for  I  have  known  of  fresh  pota- 
toes selling  for  one  dollar  apiece,  and  other  things 
in  proportion. 

43 


44  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Just  about  dark,  I  met  a  man  whom  I  had  known 
slightly  in  Skagway,  Alaska,  and  he  showed  me  an 
empty  log  cabin,  in  which  he  said  we  might  bunk, 
until  a  more  suitable  place  was  found.  At  that  time 
I  did  not  explain  that  the  girl  with  me  was  not 
my  wife,  and  it  would  have  made  but  little  differ- 
ence anyway,  as  very  few  couples  in  that  country 
were  married.  They  would  simply  pick  up  a  com- 
panion and  go  on  seeking  a  fortune,  trying  to  stick 
strictly  to  their  own  business.  So,  through  the  slush 
and  snow,  we,  pulling  our  outfits,  followed  our 
new-found  friend. 

When  we  reached  the  cabin  and  opened  the  door, 
to  our  surprise,  there  were  other  occupants  ;  a  young 
Jew  from  New  York,  and  a  tall  Englishman,  com- 
monly known  as  the  "remittance  man,"  usually  an 
undesirable  citizen  in  that  country.  His  allowance 
from  England  had  been  suddenly  cut  off.  His  rela- 
tives had  sent  him  to  Dawson  to  try  and  make  a 
fortune,  or  a  living,  or  to  get  rid  of  him,  it  made 
but  little  difference  which. 

We  were  about  to  withdraw,  when  the  English- 
man exclaimed,  "Say,  old  chap,  what's  your  hurry? 
We  have  no  more  bloomin'  right  here  than  you,  don- 
cherknow.      The   blasted    Irish    landlord   has   gone 


Landing  in  Dawson  City,  Y.  T.  45 

down  the  river,  and,  bah  Jove,  we've  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  bally  place.  We're  mighty  glad  to  have 
you  stay,  as  it  is  beastly  lonesome,  doncherknow. 
There's  room  for  all  of  us,"  and  sure  enough  there 
was.  With  one  bunk  above  another,  made  of  poles 
and  covered  with  a  thick  layer  of  native  moss,  we 
could  spread  out  our  blankets,  and  each  one  have  a 
separate  bunk. 

The  Yukon  stove  near  the  door  kept  the  cabin 
comfortably  warm,  but  now  and  then  a  gust  of  wind 
would  sift  the  snow  through  a  crack  in  the  door. 
The  cabin  had  a  sod  roof  and  a  dirt  floor,  with 
the  only  window  covered  with  a  flour-sack.  But 
in  spite  of  all  this,  I  was  never  so  happy  in  my  life, 
and  with  the  Indians,  I  could  say  "Klondike"  over 
my  new-found  home.  As  I  sat  there  on  a  box  and 
looked  into  the  pretty  blue  eyes  of  little  Minnie, 
how  I  wished  she  were  mine. 

The  next  morning,  bright  and  early,  I  was  awak- 
ened by  Stub,  the  same  dog  who  found  me  on  the 
summit,  licking  my  face  to  see  if  I  were  alive;  for 
I  was  sleeping  heavily.  Realizing  that  a  great 
deal  depended  upon  me,  I  arose,  and  as  I  did  so, 
the  Jew  crawled  out  of  his  bunk,  and  suggested,  "If 
you'll  furnish  the  grub,  I'll  get  breakfast  for  the 


46  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

crowd,"  to  which  I  consented. 

There  was  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  that  night,  and 
we  were  not  able  to  get  any  wood,  as  the  remit- 
tance man  always  put  off  until  tomorrow  what  he 
should  have  done  today,  and  did  not  take  the 
trouble  to  gather  any  wood  to  get  breakfast  with. 
So  we  hewed  off  some  of  the  inside  logs  of  the 
cabin,  soon  had  a  roaring  fire,  a  can  of  boiling 
water,  and  with  our  evaporated  potatoes  soaked  and 
ready  to  fry,  in  less  than  half  an  hour  we  had  a 
good  breakfast  of  fried  potatoes  and  bacon,  black 
coffee  and  sourdough  pancakes. 

While  we  were  eating  our  breakfast,  the  remit- 
tance man  informed  us  that  he  had  been  in  and 
around  Dawson  for  over  two  months,  and  that  all 
the  gold-bearing  ground  had  been  located  and 
staked.  He  continued :  "The  only  opportunity  for 
a  man  in  this  blasted  country  at  present,  is  to  get 
into  some  kind  of  business,  or  go  to  work  at  some 
beastly  job  for  wages,  doncherknow,  although  there 
is  a  jolly  big  gold  strike  at  Nome,  and  you  know, 
I  have  chanced  to  meet  an  old  miner,  who  has 
plenty  of  gold  and  wants  to  make  the  trip  in  the 
spring.  Blow  me  if  he  isn't  willing  to  furnish  the 
supplies  for  any  parties  who  will  go  with  him  on 


Landing  in  Dawson  City,  Y.  T.  47 

his  grub-stake.  So  a  capital  plan  is  to  find  some- 
thing to  do  until  spring,  and  if  all  reports  are  true, 
with  the  old  duffer,  Donovan  I  believe  is  his  name, 
we  will  follow  the  ice  down  the  Yukon  River  to 
Nome  in  the  spring,  doncherknow,  and  blast  me  if 
I  can't  see  a  fortune  ahead  of  us.  It  is  easy,  like 
'getting  money  from  home'." 

The  Englishman  was  a  good  talker,  and  soon 
convinced  us  "Chee-cha-kos,"  or  greenhorns,  that 
this  was  the  proper  thing  to  do;  but  Minnie,  with 
her  sweet  smile,  said,  "I  tank  I  not  go.  I  stay  here 
— I  find  my  brudders,  I  not  know,  but  I  tank  so.' 

She  then  related  her  story  to  the  Englishman 
and  Nathason,  the  Jew,  whom  we  afterwards 
called  "Ike,"  for  people  in  that  country  were  not 
known  by  their  surnames,  but  by  some  peculiarity 
of  their  clothing,  or  looks,  dialect  or  nationality, 
such  as  the  "Evaporated  Kid,"  "Nigger  Jim,"  "Big 
Aleck,"  "Crazy  Charley,"  "Green  Swede,"  "Curly 
Munroe,"  "Gypsy  Queen,"  etc. 

The  Englishman  asked  Minnie  to  describe  her 
brothers,  which  she  did,  and  he  exclaimed : 

"Bah  Jove,  little  girl,  I  know  them,  or  did  know 
them.  One  of  them  has  gone  down  the  river  to 
Nome.     They  called  him  the  "Big  Swede."     The 


48  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

other  chap,  the  "Little  Swede," — it  is  deucedly 
awkward,  doncherknow,  to  repeat  what  your  brother 
told  me — was  frozen  to  death  in  an  alley  back  of 
Tom  Chisholm's  saloon  and  gambling  house.  He 
wandered  out  of  the  back  door  unnoticed  by  the 
bloomin'  booster  of  the  saloon,  and  met  his  death. 
It  was  a  beastly  cold  night,  so  I  heard,  and  upon  my 
word  it  usually  takes  only  about  twenty  minutes  for 
a  drunken  man  to  freeze  to  death  in  this  country, 
doncherknow." 

''Why,"  said  I,  "I  always  understood  that  whis- 
key kept  out  the  cold."  I  was  trying  to  get  up  a 
discussion,  or  conversation,  to  take  little  Minnie's 
mind  off  the  sorrow  and  grief  which  this  knowledge 
might  bring  her. 

The  Englishman  answered  by  saying,  "Bah  Jove, 
whiskey  makes  you  think  the  cold  is  not  there,  but 
my  word,  Jack  Frost  is  getting  in  his  work  more 
than  ever." 

These  remarks  were  apparently  unnecessary,  for 
Minnie  sadly  smiled  and  said,  in  her  broken  way, 
that  perhaps  it  was  best,  for  poor  Augustus  had 
had  a  hard  time  in  life,  caused  from  a  craving  for 
alcohol.  Then  she  related  some  of  the  suffering 
he  had  brought  upon  himself. 


Landing  in  Dawson  City,  Y.  T.  49 

Upon  opening  the  cabin  door  after  breakfast,  we 
found  the  snow  to  be  as  high  as  the  top  of  the  door. 
However,  a  tunnel  was  soon  dug  through  the  drift 
of  snow  to  the  main  trail ;  and  the  Englishman  went 
to  find  the  miner  who  proposed  to  grub-stake  a 
party  to  go  down  the  river  to  the  beach  diggings 
at  Nome,  in  the  spring. 

Realizing  that  I  had  to  get  some  money  and  get  it 
quickly,  because  the  few  supplies  I  had  would  soon 
give  out,  I  started  to  look  for  work.  The  Jew  vol- 
unteered to  get  some  wood,  of  which  we  were 
very  much  in  need,  and  Minnie  thought  she  would 
try  to  make  the  cabin  look  more  like  home,  which 
she  surely  did. 

Now,  Dawson  differed  from  any  city  in  which 
I  had  ever  lived.  There  is  no  need  of  describing  it, 
for  this  has  already  been  done  by  better  writers  than 
myself,  although  perhaps  I  spent  more  time  in  that 
country  than  they,  and  had  more  knowledge  of  real 
hardships  and  mining  life,  but  my  descriptive  abil- 
ity is  not  equal  to  theirs,  so  I  can  simply  wander  on, 
and  tell  plain  facts  of  my  personal  experience,  as 
an  honest,  rough  miner  would  do. 

I  was  not  a  man  who  was  used  to  going  to 
saloons  or  gambling  houses.    As  I  had  often  said,  I 


50  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

never  visited  churches  or  saloons,  never  prayed  or 
swore,  but  always  did  everything  I  could  for  the 
benefit  and  welfare  of  my  fellow-men ;  and  the  good 
I  did  was  for  the  good  it  would  do,  not  for  the 
sake  of  a  reward,  either  here  or  hereafter. 

As  I  had  never  drank  or  gambled,  it  seemed  to 
me  very  queer  to  come  in  contact  with  this  class 
of  people ;  but  everybody  in  Dawson,  except  the 
respectable  women,  who  were  few,  visited  the 
saloons.  Even  Minister  Pringle  preached  his  occa- 
sional Sunday  sermon  in  a  saloon.  He  covered  the 
bottles  and  glasses  with  a  sheet,  then  used  the  bar 
for  a  pulpit.  It  was  against  the  law  to  sell  liquor 
on  Sunday,  and  a  saloon  could  be  converted  into 
a  church  on  that  day  without  inconveniencing  the 
saloon-keeper.  So,  finding  it  was  not  uncommon 
to  visit  such  places,  I,  too,  wandered  into  a  big 
saloon  and  gambling  house,  of  which  there  were 
plenty  in  those  days. 

This  was  a  well-lighted  room,  about  one  hun- 
dred feet  long,  and  forty  feet  wide,  with  gambling 
tables  of  many  kinds  down  each  wall ;  and  a 
big  wood  stove,  made  from  a  fifty  gallon  coal-oil 
tank,  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  with  a  bar  close 
to  the  door  on  the  left-hand  side,  as  you  entered 


Landing  in  Dawson  City,  Y.  T.  51 

the  saloon.  A  pile  of  four-foot  wood,  back  of  the 
big  stove,  furnished  a  seat  for  some  of  the  half- 
frozen  prospectors. 

Up  in  one  corner,  a  long,  lanky  fellow  played  an 
old-fashioned  dance  tune  on  a  piano  that  sounded 
more  like  a  dulcimer  than  a  piano ;  nevertheless,  his 
music  had  sufficient  hum-drum  to  keep  the  miners 
in  the  place. 

I  visited  several  saloons,  but  did  not  see  an  op- 
portunity to  make  any  money  around  such  places, 
so  went  up  a  side  street,  where  I  found  a  tin-shop. 

"Hello,  boss,"  I  said,  upon  entering,  "can  you 
give  me  a  job?" 

"Are  you  a  tinner?"  he  asked. 

"Ye-es,"  I  rather  hesitatingly  replied,  for  I  real- 
ized that  if  I  should  say  no,  I  would  not  get  a 
chance,  and  trusted  that  he  would  put  me  at  some 
work  I  could  do,  for  at  one  time  I  had  worked  at 
the  trade,  although  I  had  never  finished  it. 

"Well,  there  is  an  idle  bench,  and  you  can  go  to 
work  making  Yukon  stoves  and  galvanized  iron 
buckets.  The  patterns  are  hanging  up  over  there, 
and  your  wages  will  be  ten  dollars  a  day." 

Fortunately  for  me  this  was  the  class  of  work 
I  had  done  before,  but  as  for  the  wages,  it  seemed 


52  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

too  good  to  be  true — too  much  money.  The  last 
time  I  had  worked  at  the  tinning  trade,  I  earned 
two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  day,  and  thought  I 
was  doing  well ;  but  ten  dollars  looked  like  a  small 
fortune  to  me,  in  my  condition,  so  I  went  to  work. 

That  night  I  went  to  the  boss  and  told  him  I  was 
out  of  money,  and  asked  if  he  would  pay  me  for 
my  one  day's  work,  which  he  did,  on  the  promise 
that  I  would  return  to  work  the  next  morning.  I 
did  this  partly  to  be  sure  I  was  not  mistaken  in  the 
amount  I  was  to  receive,  but  afterwards  I  found 
that  ten  dollars  was  a  mechanic's  wage  in  that 
country. 

I  worked  for  this  man  about  six  weeks,  during 
which  time  Minnie  cooked  for  the  Englishman,  Ike 
the  Jew,  and  me ;  and  a  better  little  housekeeper  I 
never  met.  Our  every  want  and  need  was  attended 
to.  She  provided  a  good  meal  out  of  almost  noth- 
ing, and  kept  out  clothes  washed  and  mended.  She 
entertained  us  by  singing  Swedish  songs,  although 
most  of  my  evenings  were  devoted  to  teaching  her 
to  speak  English,  which  she  grasped  readily,  and  it 
was  indeed  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  my  life 
to  be  able  to  give  this  help  to  one  who  was  becom- 
ing so  dear  to  me.    As  I  watched  her  lips  repeating 


Landing  in  Dawson  City,  Y.  T.  53 

the  words  I  taught  her,  I  only  wished  I  could  teach 
her  to  love  me  as  easily. 

I  had  brought  a  large  phonograph  and  a  great 
many  records  with  me,  and  occasionally  would  give 
the  miners  in  our  neighborhood  a  concert,  which 
helped  them  to  pass  the  long  winter  evenings.  When 
I  would  get  through  with  my  work,  and  my 
acquaintances  would  ask  me  to  join  them  to  take 
in  the  town,  I  would  always  refuse,  telling  them 
that  I  had  a  sweet  little  girl  waiting  for  me,  and 
that  they  could  not  appreciate  the  pleasure  and  hap- 
piness connected  with  knowing  that  a  congenial  and 
adorable  sweetheart  was  keeping  a  good  supper 
warm,  while  watching  and  listening  each  moment 
for  my  coming. 

They  would  laugh  at  me  in  a  way ;  but  down  deep 
in  their  hearts,  they  surely  recognized  some  of  the 
happiness  that  I  enjoyed. 


Three  Months  in  a  Gambling  House 


Si 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THREE    MONTHS    IN    A   GAMBLING    HOUSE. 

One  evening,  as  we  were  all  gathered  around 
the  Yukon  stove  in  our  cabin,  I  said  to  the  remit- 
tance man,  "What  might  your  name  be?  I've 
heard  men  call  you  'Bill.'  " 

"My  name  might  be  Claude  LaMotte,"  he 
answered,  "had  it  not  been  for  a  blasted  miner  for 
whom  I  was  pulling  a  sled  on  the  trail.  You  see, 
it  was  like  this :  It  was  a  bloomin'  hard  trail,  and 
we  had  a  heavy  load  to  pull.  In  fact,  we  were 
moving  by  hand,  as  we  had  no  dogs.  Blow  me  if 
I  wasn't  hitched  up  to  the  sled  pulling,  and  my  pal, 
you  see,  had  hold  of  the  handles  steering  and  keep- 
ing the  sled  on  the  trail,  which  was  a  deucedly  hard 
thing  to  do,  doncherknow.  It  tired  the  patience 
of  my  pal,  until  finally  he  shouted  at  me,  'Say,'  says 
he,    'what  on  arth  be  your  name?' 

"I,  myself,  was  not  in  the  best  of  humor,  so 
turned    around    in    my    harness    and    looked    the 

57 


58  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

bloomin'  buggar  square  in  the  face,  and  answered, 
'My  name  is  Claude  LaMotte,  if  you  please.'  Blow 
me  if  the  drotted  buggar  didn't  answer,  'That's  too 
nice  a  name  for  a  horse,  so  I'll  call  you  Bill;  and 
Bill,  for  God's  sake  stay  in  the  middle  of  the  trail.' 
From  that  time  on  he  called  me  'Bill' ;  so  Bill  it  is, 
and  what's  the  bloomin'  odds  so  you're  'appy?" 

The  next  day  was  Saturday,  and  Bill  suggested 
to  me,  "I  say,  old  chap,  let's  take  in  the  town  while 
I  have  an  opportunity,  for  tomorrow  I  am  to  take 
a  seventy-mile  jolt  to  Henderson  Creek,  and  God 
knows  if  I'll  ever  see  Dawson  again,  for  it  isn't 
every  man  who  returns  from  a  bally  trip  of  that 
sort,  doncherknow.  Blow  me  if  yesterday  I  didn't 
see  your  friend  Jack,  the  teamster,  who  brought 
you  up  to  this  cabin.  He  just  returned  from  Hen- 
derson Creek,  where  he  lost  both  of  his  feet,  and 
the  poor  beggar  was  trotting  about  on  his  knees 
when  I  saw  him  last  night." 

"Why,  what  happened  to  him,  Bill?" 
"My  word,  but  he  was  caught  in  a  blizzard  on 
Stewart  River,  and  frozen  in  for  three  days.  He 
was  picked  up  by  the  mounted  police,  who  were 
patrolling  the  river,  and  taken  to  Stewart  City,  at 
the  mouth   of   Stewart   River,   where  he  had   the 


Three  Months  in  a  Gambling  House         59 

useless  clay  removed,  doncherknow,  and  upon  my 
word,  he  can  get  around  quite  lively  on  his  knees. 
But  for  all  that,  blow  me  if  the  mounted  police 
haven't  given  him  a  blue  paper,  which  means  that 
he  has  to  leave  the  country  on  the  first  boat  up  the 
river  in  the  spring.  You  know,  no  bloomin' 
cripples  or  charitable  subjects  are  allowed  to  remain 
in  this  country." 

Bill  continued,  "He  tells  me  they  are  paying 
laboring  men  seven  dollars  a  day  and  board  on 
Henderson  Creek,  where  the  jolly  big  strike  is  on, 
so  I'm  starting  in  the  morning,  doncherknow. 
Before  I'll  be  off,  I'd  like  to  take  one  last  good 
look  at  Dawson  by  candlelight,  for  the  fascination 
it  has  for  me  I  can't  well  shake  off." 

So  Bill  and  I  started  out,  although  it  was  not 
yet  dark,  and  the  real  life  of  Dawson  did  not  com- 
mence until  the  candles  were  lighted. 

On  our  way  to  the  main  part  of  town,  from  our 
cabin,  Bill,  who  prided  himself  on  his  knowledge 
of  Dawson,  took  a  delight  in  showing  me  the  points 
of  interest  along  our  route. 

The  first  one  was  a  land-slide,  under  which  he 
declared  a  tribe  of  Moosehide  Indians  were  buried. 
It  can   plainly   be   seen   as   a   background   in   any 


60  Attraction  of  the  Compass^ 

picture  of  Dawson. 

Another  was  the  deserted  cabins  on  the  hill  back" 
of  Dawson,  where  ice  could  be  seen  coming  out  of 
the  stovepipe  holes  in  the  roof. 

"What's  the  cause  of  that,  Bill?"  I  asked. 
,  He  told  me  that  the  ground  freezes  outside  of 
the  cabin  first,  shutting  off  the  seeping  water  from 
the  surface.  Then  the  water  finds  its  way  through 
the  floor  of  the  cabin,  and  freezing  as  it  raises,  fills 
the  cabin  full  of  ice.  Sometimes  this  ice  raises  so 
fast  in  a  cabin  that  the  occupants  cannot  keep  it 
out,  and  have  to  desert  their  home. 

"And  then  the  cabins  are  useless?" 

"Not  so,"  said  he,  "they  use  them  for  ice-boxes 
to  preserve  the  bodies  of  poor  chaps  whose  spirits 
have  gone  outside.  Their  bodies  will  be  taken  out 
in  the  spring,  when  so  requested  by  relatives  or 
friends." 

"Do  you  see  this  lad  driving  the  slop-cart?"  he 
continued.  "He  has  a  five-year  sentence  at  that 
job..  He  used  to  own  the  finest  saloon  in  Dawson, 
doncherknow." 

"What  did  he  do?"  I  asked. 

"He  got  into  a  game  of  black-jack  one  night  with 
'One-eyed'  Riley,  and  lost  thirty  thousand  dollars. 


Three  Months  in  a  Gambling  House         61 

After  that  he  lost  heart,  and  allowed  a  bloomin' 
woman  of  the  town  to  support  him,  until  the 
mounted  police  found  him  out,  and  they  gave  him 
that  drotted  job  for  five  years." 

"But  what  is  that  soldier  with  a  gun  following 
him  for?" 

"Oh,  to  keep  him  on  the  job." 

Just  then  five  good-looking  women  marched 
down  the  street,  followed  by  another  mounted 
policeman,  with  a  rifle. 

"What  have  they  done,  Bill?" 

"Oh,  they  are  doing  a  term,  for  pinching  some 
drunk's  poke  of  gold." 

"Why  do  they  drill  them  along  the  main  street?" 

"They  are  marching  them  from  police  quarters 
down  to  the  barracks,  to  scrub  up,"  Bill  answered. 
"I  hear  one  of  them  is  doing  twenty  years." 

By  that  time  we  had  reached  the  saloon  district, 
which  was  then  the  leading  industry  of  Dawson. 
It  was  dark  now,  and  the  candles  and  lamps  were 
glittering,  with  the  miners  walking  to  and  fro,  some 
walking  straight  and  talking  crooked ;  and  others 
walking  crooked  and  talking  straight,  showing  some 
of  the  different  effects  that  whiskey  will  have  on 
the  human  system. 


62  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Among  other  places,  we  went  into  one  called  the 
"Exchange,"  well  known  to  every  man  who  has 
ever  been  in  Dawson.  In  this  saloon  was  a  fellow 
trying  to  play  the  mandolin,  but  he  was  so  drunk 
he  could  hardly  sit  up,  much  less  furnish  music. 
The  proprietor  of  the  place,  Harley  Edmonds, 
spoke  to  me,  although  he  did  not  know  me,  which 
was  no  doubt  his  reason  for  speaking,  in  order  to 
make  a  new  customer,  what  he  called  a  "live  one" — 
the  "dead  ones"  were  those  who  had  spent  their 
gold  dust  and  were  laid  out  in  some  corner. 

Then  he  called  Bill  and  me  up  to  the  bar  to  have 
a  drink,  but  I  assured  him  that  I  had  never  learned 
to  drink,  and  was  too  old  to  learn  new  tricks. 

At  this,  he  seemed  to  admire  more  than  to 
dislike  me,  and  asked  me  what  I  was  doing.  I  told 
him  that  I  was  out  of  employment  just  now.  Then 
I  asked  him  if  he  didn't  want  a  phonograph  to  put 
in  his  place  of  business. 

He  answered,  "It  is  impossible  to  find  anyone 
that  would  stay  sober  long  enough  to  run  it;  and 
besides,  no  one  in  this  country  seems  to  know  any- 
thing about  a  phonograph,  anyway.  There  is  many 
a  man  here  who  has  never  heard  one." 

I  explained  to  him  that  I  had  a  large  phonograph 


Three  Months  in  a  Gambling  House         63 

and  a  lot  of  records,  whereupon  he  offered  me 
twelve  dollars  a  day  to  bring  it  there  and  run 
it.  My  tinning  job  had  given  out,  and  I  had  been 
making  short  trips  to  the  different  creeks,  in  the 
hope  of  finding  some  open  ground  where  I  could 
stake  a  claim,  but  not  having  met  with  success,  I 
decided  to  take  up  his  offer. 

The  next  Monday  noon  I  started  my  big  phono- 
graph, with  its  six-foot  horn,  and  thus  excited  the 
curiosity  of  the  old  "sourdoughs"  and  native 
Indians,  who  had  never  seen  such  a  thing.  For  the 
first  time,  the  music  of  a  phonograph  was  heard  by 
the  people  of  Dawson  City,  and  I  received  my 
nickname  of  "Professor" ;  and  you  could  often 
hear  the  cry,  "Professor,  come  up  and  have  some- 
thing," but  the  "Professor"  stayed  on  his  job. 

The  music  brought  the  miners  into  the  saloon  fn 
droves,  until  the  place  was  crowded.  The  Exchange 
had  never  before  had  the  business  that  the  phono- 
graph brought  it. 

At  midnight,  when  I  had  put  in  twelve  hours,  I 
went  up  to  the  cigar  stand,  which  was  in  the  front 
part  of  the  saloon,  to  receive  my  day's  pay,  as  the 
agreement  was  that  I  should  be  paid  with  gold  dust 
every  night.     The  proprietor  beckoned  for  me  to 


64  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

come  to  the  bar,  but  I  again  shook  my  head  and  told 
him  that  he  must  not  expect  me  to  mix  with  the 
drinking  crowd,  for  I  did  not  associate  with  men 
when  they  were  drinking. 

For  three  months  I  played  the  phonograph  and 
crowded  the  place. 

The  second  day  I  was  there  a  man  came  in,  wear- 
ing on  his  coat  a  large  celluloid  button,  on  which 
was  a  picture  of  a  woman  and  two  little  children 
He  walked  over  towards  me  while  listening  to  the 
music. 

"Hello,  friend,  is  that  a  picture  of  your  wife  and 
babies  ?"  I  asked,  pointing  to  his  button. 

"Yes,  I  left  them  outside,  in  the  States,"  he 
replied,  as  his  eyes  moistened  with  tears,  and  con- 
tinued, "I  have  mortgaged  my  home  to  come  to  this 
country,  expecting  to  make  a  fortune ;  but  so  far  I 
have  not  made  any  more  than  wages,  which  I  send 
regularly  to  my  family." 

"Yes,  there  are  hundreds  of  men  in  this  coun- 
try like  you,  homesick  for  their  families,"  I 
replied. 

While  we  were  talking,  a  capper,  or  booster,  a 
man  employed  by  the  saloon  to  encourage  men  to 
drink,  asked  him  to  come  and  have  a  drink,  which 


Three  Months  in  a  Gambling  House         65 

he  refused,  saying  that  he  was  not  drinking.  A 
few  days  after  that,  when  "Swiftwater  Bill"  had 
invited  everyone  in  the  house  to  drink  on  him,  I 
noticed  my  friend  with  the  large  celluloid  button 
standing  up  to  the  bar  having  a  smoke. 

A  little  later  in  the  evening,  as  I  was  running 
my  phonograph,  I  called  him  over  to  me. 

"Have  you  forgotten  your  wife  and  two  little 
babies,  waiting  day  by  day  for  your  return?  With 
or  without  a  fortune  they  want  you  to  come  back 
as  good  a  man  as  when  you  left." 

"Why  do  you  say  this  to  me,  Professor?" 

"Because  I  saw  you  whooping  it  up  with  the  rest 
of  the  drunks." 

"I  was  only  taking  a  smoke,"  he  replied.  "Be- 
sides this,  Professor,  you  are  getting  a  living  from 
this  place,  and  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  the 
business  of  a  place  where  you  are  employed." 

What  he  said  was  the  truth,  and  it  found  its 
way  home.  I  said  no  more,  but  shut  up  like  a  clam 
and  continued  to  grind  my  phonograph,  trying  to 
stick  strictly  to  my  own  business,  although  it  was 
impossible  to  shut  my  eyes  to  what  was  taking 
place  about  me. 

A  few  days  afterward  I  saw  this  man  taking  a 


66  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

glass  of  beer.  Although  there  were  crowds  in  the 
place,  sometimes  as  many  as  two  or  three  hundred 
on  the  floor,  yet  from  the  platform  on  which  I  stood, 
my  eyes  involuntarily  looked  over  the  crowd  in 
search  of  the  man  with  the  celluloid  button  on  his 
coat.  Until  one  night,  after  the  crowd  and  smoke 
had  cleared  away,  I  saw  my  poor  friend  lying  in  a 
corner  next  to  a  pile  of  wood,  with  his  face  in  the 
sawdust,  in  a  drunken  stupor.  I  picked  him  up, 
but  he  did  not  know  me.  The  capper  and  whiskey 
had  done  their  work;  the  button  was  gone,  and  so 
was  the  man,  and  I  hurried  away  and  tried  to  forget 
the  thing  he  was,  and  the  man  he  used  to  be. 

Before  I  left  Dawson,  this  man  was  cleaning 
spittoons  and  keeping  up  the  fire  in  a  saloon  for  his 
drinks  and  meals.  He  was  one  of  the  men  you 
often  meet  who  say,  "A  glass  of  beer  will  hurt 
no  man.  I  can  take  a  drink  when  I  want  to,  or  let 
it  alone  when  I  want  to;"  but  when  they  get  as 
far  as  this,  they  never  want  to  let  it  alone.  Their 
"want  to"  has  been  destroyed  by  alcohol,  until  they 
have  no  knowledge  of  what  they  want.  Theii 
bodies  act  instead  of  their  brains.  He  no  longer 
spoke  of  his  family,  and  day  after  day  I  suppose 
those  little  babies  were  awaiting  the  return  of  their 


Three  Months  in  a  Gambling  House         67 

father,  who  would  never  come  back;  and  even  if 
he  should,  they  could  not  recognize  him. 

The  next  day  I  ground  my  phonograph,  not  heed- 
ing the  tunes  it  played.  Time  after  time  when  I 
would  play  a  selection  which  the  crowd  was  par- 
ticularly fond  of,  they  would  applaud  and  cheer 
me,  shouting,  "Three  cheers  for  the  Professor !" 
and  offer  to  "set  'em  up"  to  me,  but  I  always 
refused.  The  proprietor  had  won  several  bets  that 
there  was  no  power  in  that  country  that  could  get 
me  to  drink ;  but  for  all  that,  I  was  earning  my 
living  entertaining  a  drinking  crowd,  the  lowest 
occupation  on  earth. 

At  this  saloon  they  kept  a  man  at  the  back  door, 
to  prevent  any  of  the  drunks  going  out  that  way ; 
for  there  was  hardly  a  week  passed  that  some  man, 
under  the  influence  of  liquor,  did  not  freeze  to 
death  in  the  alley. 

In  conversation  with  this  booster  one  day,  I  told 
him  the  story  of  Minnie  and  her  brothers,  and  he 
remembered  her  brother;  that  he  had  frozen  to 
death  in  the  alley  back  of  Tom  Grisholm's  saloon. 

"Do  you  know  where  she  is?"  he  asked  me. 

"Yes,"  I  answered  shortly,  for  I  wanted  to  change 
the  subject. 


68  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

"Is  she  good  looking?" 

I  scarcely  answered,  for  I  was  sorry  I  had  spoken 
of  her. 

"A  blonde,  I'll  bet,"  he  continued,  "most  Scandi- 
navians are." 

I  could  feel  my  face  burn  with  rage. 

"How  do  you  stand  with  her,  solid?  Say,  Pro- 
fessor, why  don't  you  get  her  down  here?  She 
could  make  more  money  than  you  can.  You  could 
afford  to  lay  off.  She  can  entertain  the  miners  who 
are  drinking,  and  make  as  high  as  twenty  dollars  a 
day  in  commission.  She  can  get  five  dollars  com- 
mission on  one  bottle  of  champagne  alone." 

By  this  time  I  was  furious,  and  felt  like  jumping 
on  the  fellow  and  strangling  him,  but  did  not  want 
to  show  too  much  personal  interest  in  her,  so  quietly 
replied,  "If  she  were  your  sister,  would  you  like 
to  see  her  engaged  in  such  an  occupation?" 

He  answered,  "If  it  were  my  sister  it  would  be 
a  different  proposition." 

Then  I  said,  "Would  you  like  to  see  a  pure,  inno- 
cent girl  associating  with  a  crowd  of  hooch-soaked 
miners,  ruining  her  womanhood  for  the  sake  of  a 
few  paltry  dollars?" 

"Well,"  said  he,  "all  these  girls  who  are  drink- 


Three  Months  in  a  Gambling  House         69 

ing  here  on  commission  were  pure  and  innocent 
once,  but  got  sadly  over  it  just  in  time  to  make  a 
little  money  for  themselves." 

I  asked  him  to  go  away  from  me.  as  I  did  not 
want  to  hear  his  views  on  the  subject  any  longer. 

Next  morning  as  I  looked  across  the  breakfast 
table  at  little  Minnie's  beautiful,  pure  face,  and 
listened  to  her  innocent  words,  I  was  ashamed  to 
even  think  of  the  conversation  that  had  taken  place 
in  the  saloon,  for  I  knew  that  she  was  innocent. 
She  had  associated  with  me  under  many  difficult 
circumstances,  and  had  proven  herself  honest,  fear- 
less, and  a  good  woman,  one  whom  no  man  could 
speak  ill  of. 

The  saloon  business  commenced  to  have  a  horror 
for  me,  and  I  wanted  to  get  out  of  it.  I  thought 
of  a  packing-house  in  Armourdale,  Kansas,  that  I 
had  visited  once,  where  they  had  an  old  buck  sheep 
that  would  go  up  the  runway  where  they  slaugh- 
tered the  sheep ;  and  when  he  went  up,  all  the  others 
followed  him.  They  were  slaughtered,  while  this 
old  Judas  had  a  feed  of  oats  and  was  driven  down 
the  runway  again  to  bring  up  the  next  bunch  to 
be  butchered. 

So  I   figured  out  that   I  was   this   false  leader, 


70  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

receiving  my  feed  to  decoy  a  bunch  of  men  into  this 
dive,  to  be  slaughtered  by  the  use  of  whiskey.  It 
was  then  and  there  I  decided  that  come  what  might 
I  would  change  my  occupation,  even  though  twelve 
dollars  a  day  was  a  serious  thing  to  give  up  when  I 
needed  the  money  so  badly. 

When  I  told  the  proprietor  of  the  place  my  inten- 
tion he  laughed  at  me,  and  said  if  I  didn't  furnish 
music  someone  else  would.  I  informed  him  that 
I  could  not  feel  responsible  for  what  somebody 
else  did,  but  that  I  personally  would  not  have 
anything  more  to  do  with  such  business.  He  then 
offered  to  buy  the  phonograph,  but  I  refused  to  sell 
for  that  purpose,  and  picking  up  my  outfit,  went  to 
the  cabin,  where  I  found  Long  Bill  had  just 
returned  from  Henderson  Creek. 


Sworn  by  the  Dictionary 


CHAPTER  V. 

SW0RX    BY    THE    DICTIONARY. 

"Hello,  Bill,  did  you  get  back?" 

"Yes,  but  it  was  a  beastly  trip,  doncherknow. 
Upon  my  word  it  has  taken  me  three  days." 

"Yes,  Bill,  but  these  winter  days  are  very  short, 
not  more  than  seven  hours  between  daylight  and 
dark." 

Xot  heeding  my  remark,  he  continued,  "I  made 
the  trip  last  summer  across  the  mountains  from 
Henderson  Creek,  which  is  sixty  miles,  in  one  day, 
and  would  have  continued  to  go  out  to  the  Forks, 
which  is  sixteen  miles  farther ;  but  the  blasted  dog 
I  had  following  me  gave  out,  and  I  had  to  stay  in 
Dawson  that  night." 

"You  don't  mean  to  say  you  made  sixty  miles 
in  one  day  on  foot,  do  you  Bill?"  I  asked. 

"I  made  it  from  daylight  to  dark,"  replied  Bill, 
"which  was  eighteen  hours,  for  in  the  summer 
time  here  it  is  daylight  most  all  night,  and  all  you 

.78 


74  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

have  to  do  to  make  sixty  miles  is  to  keep  on  walk- 
ing, doncherknow." 

"It's  a  mighty  cold  night,  so  draw  yourself  up  to 
the  fire,  Bill,  and  tell  us  how  you  made  it  on  the 
creek.     Have  good  luck?" 

,  The  fire  crackled  in  the  little  Yukon  stove,  which 
was  kept  at  a  red  heat  all  day  and  during  the  even- 
ing, but  in  spite  of  this  the  dirt  floor  of  the  cabin 
was  frozen,  while  beads  of  perspiration  could  be 
seen  on  our  foreheads. 

"Yes,"  replied  Bill,  "it  is  deucedly  cold.  I  see 
the  frost  is  half  way  up  the  bloomin'  door.  What 
does  it  register?" 

Little  Minnie  answered,  "It  is  sixty-five  below, 
for  the  frost  reaches  the  third  mark  on  the  door." 

"I  say,  Professor,  where  is  the  bloomin'  ther- 
mometer?" Bill  inquired. 

"Oh,  it  froze  up  and  busted,  Bill." 

"Bah  jove,  is  it  possible !  I  missed  it,  doncher- 
know !" 

"Come,  Bill,  tell  us,  did  you  strike  it  rich  on  Hen- 
derson Creek?"  I  asked. 

"Well,  hardly,"  answered  Bill,  "I  did  not  get  the 
job  I  went  after,  so  went  out  prospecting  and  staked 
a  claim  which  had  been  staked  before,  but  aban- 


I 


Sworn  by  the  Dictionary  75 

cloned.  I  went  back  to  the  bloomin'  recording 
office  to  record  my  claim.  My  word,  what  do  you 
think  happened  ?  I  came  blasted  near  having  to 
serve  a  sentence,  on  a  charge  of  contempt,  for 
refusing  to  be  sworn  by  the  dictionary.  A  jolly  good 
joke,  doncherknow." 

"It  was  like  this,"  he  continued,  "I  went  to  the 
recording  office  to  record  my  claim.  As  usual,  there 
was  a  long  line  waiting  to  get  to  the  window.  The 
chap  who  makes  out  the  papers  gets  to  be  like  a 
bloomin'  machine,  from  saying  and  doing  the  same 
things  over  and  over  again,  doncherknow ;  and  as 
he  dismissed  one  man  after  another,  I  heard  him 
tell  them  to  'kiss  the  book — fifteen.'  " 

"What  did  that  mean,  Bill?"  asked  Minnie. 

"Oh,  when  you  record  a  claim  you  have  to  be 
sworn,  kiss  the  Bible,  and  pay  fifteen  dollars  to 
record  your  claim." 

"Did  you  refuse  to  do  this,  Bill — you,  a  good 
British  subject?"  I  asked. 

"No,  but  blow  me  if  I  didn't  remove  the  rubber 
band  from  the  supposed  Bible  which  we  were  being 
sworn  by,  and  found  it  to  be  a  Webster's  dictionary. 
When  I  asked  the  recorder  what  kind  of  a  Bible 
that  was,  he  explained  that  they  had  lost  their  Bible 


76  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

and  were  using  Daniel  Webster's  dictionary.  I  bet 
him  all  my  holdings  in  the  bloomin'  country  that 
Daniel  Webster  never  wrote  a  dictionary,  or  had 
anything  to  do  with  one.  At  this,  the  rest  of  the 
blasted  miners  who  were  waiting  behind  me  threw 
me  out  of  line,  telling  me  this  was  no  place  for  an 
argument." 

"As  I  wandered  away  from  the  crowd,"  continued 
Bill,  "I  could  still  hear  the  chap  at  the  little  window 
crying  out  to  each  man  as  it  came  his  turn,  'Kiss  the 
book — fifteen,  kiss  the  book — fifteen.'  Each  poor 
beggar  would  lay  down  his  fifteen  dollars;  when 
possibly  it  was  the  last  cent  he  had,  kiss  the  book — 
or  perhaps  the  back  of  his  hand,  which  was  cleaner 
— for  if  the  recorder  could  hear  the  smack  of  the 
lips  and  see  the  fifteen  dollars,  all  other  mistakes 
would  be  overlooked,  doncherknow." 

"Did  they  continue  to  be  sworn  by  the  dictionary, 
Bill?"  I  asked. 

"Yes,"  he  answered. 

"Well,  Bill,  isn't  it  generally  thought  that 
Daniel  Webster  wrote  the  dictionary?" 

"Yes,"  answered  Bill,  "by  the  same  class  of  peo- 
ple who  apply  the  name  of  Klondike  to  this  entire 
country.     The  poor  chaps  don't  know  any  better. 


Sworn  by  the  Dictionary  77 

doncherknow.  There  is  many  a  man  who  passes 
his  whole  lifetime  without  knowing  that  it  was 
Xoah  Webster  who  wrote  the  dictionary,  and  they 
think  they  are  bloomin'  smart,  too." 

"What  did  you  do  about  it,  Bill?"  I  questioned. 

"Oh,  nothing,  I  just  returned  to  my  claim  and 
started  to  work.  I  thought  perhaps  the  lad  before 
me  didn't  find  the  gold,  doncherknow,  but  that  I 
would. 

"At  once  I  began  to  thaw  the  ground  with  a 
wood  fire,  and  sink  a  prospect  hole ;  when,  to  my 
delight,  close  by  me  if  I  didn't  notice  where  a  pros- 
pect hole  had  been  sunk  a  year  before,  filled  with 
water,  and  frozen  solid. 

"A  capital  idea  overtook  me,  and  I  decided  that 
to  dig  this  out  with  a  pick  would  be  much  easier 
than  to  build  a  fire  and  thaw  the  ground ;  for  every 
foot  I  dug  through  the  blasted  muck  and  gravel  I 
would  have  to  thaw,  no  matter  how  deep  I  sunk." 

We  all  began  to  smile,  and  I  said  to  Bill,  "Did 
you  find  anything  when  you  got  to  bed  rock?" 

"Not  a  blasted  thing." 

"Why  did  you  go  down  in  the  same  hole,  Bill? 
Didn't  you  know  if  it  was  abandoned  there  would 
be  no  gold  there?     Why  didn't  you  sink  in  a  new 


78  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

place?  Perhaps  you  would  have  found  the  pay 
streak." 

"Well,"  answered  Bill,  "it  was  easier  digging." 

When  little  Minnie  thought  we  had  laughed  long 
enough  at  Bill's  expense,  she  inquired  of  me,  "Why 
did  you  bring  your  phonograph  home  ?" 

Then  I  related  my  experience  to  the  family ;  but 
not  one  of  them  agreed  with  me.  The  Jew  called 
me  a  fool,  and  asked  me  what  I  came  to  this  coun- 
try for  if  it  wasn't  to  make  money.  I  told  him 
if  I  had  to  earn  money  by  assisting  in  the  downfall 
of  humanity,  that  I  preferred  to  remain  poor,  and 
that  I  did  not  care  to  discuss  the  subject. 

Next  morning  we  all  gathered  around  the  table, 
with  that  most  remarkable  appetite  which  man  is 
blessed  with  in  that  country,  and  of  which  Long 
Bill  seemed  to  have  more  than  his  share  at  all 
times.  There  was  never  any  waste  from  the  table 
when  Bill  was  there,  or  nothing  left  over,  although 
his  diplomacy  or  manners  were  never  forgotten. 
When  all  were  through  eating,  he  would  pick  up  the 
mush-pot  from  the  stove,  in  which  there  usually  re- 
mained enough  for  an  ordinary  man,  and  passing  it 
to  Minnie,  he  would  say,  "Won't  you  have  a  little 
more  mush,   Minnie,  please?     It  is  delicious,  you 


Sworn  by  the  Dictionary  79 

know." 

"No,  thank  you,  Bill,  I  have  all  I  want.'' 

"You'll  have  some,  my  friend  Nathason,  won't 
you?"  addressing  the  Jew. 

"No,"  the  Jew  would  reply,  "I've  had  enough, 
Bill." 

"Ah,  then  it  is  left  to  the  Professor  and  me. 
He  will  never  forsake  me  in  time  of  need ;  we'll 
finish  up  the  pot,  won't  we?" 

"As  much  as  I  love  you,  Bill,  and  appreciate  your 
friendship,  I  have  quite  a  sufficiency.  In  fact,  I 
feel  crowded." 

"Then  it  is  left  to  me,"  Bill  would  say,  "and  I 
never  have  the  heart  or  stomach  to  see  food  wasted, 
and  always  have  a  capacity  to  hold  an  extra 
supply." 

And  as  he  would  empty  the  remainder  of  the 
mush  into  his  plate,  he  made  a  few  remarks  about 
the  little  burnt  part  which  he  would  scrape  off  from 
the  bottom  of  the  kettle,  and  how  the  rest  of  us 
were  cheated  out  of  the  best  part  by  having  delicate 
appetites ;  and  would  assure  us  that  there  was  no 
necessity  for  us  to  remain  at  the  table,  as  he  would 
excuse  us  if  we  were  uncomfortable. 

Long  Bill  always  thought  more  of  the  comfort 


80  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

and  pleasure  of  others,  than  of  himself.  His  gen- 
erosity was  displayed  one  day  on  a  bitterly  cold 
trip  to  Bonanza  Creek,  when  he  took  off  his  scarf, 
cut  it  in  two,  and  gave  me  half  of  it. 


"Patent  Plaster" 


CHAPTER  VI. 
"patent  plaster." 

There  was  but  very  little  honest  business  trans- 
acted in  Dawson ;  it  was  all  a  run  and  grab  and 
take  from  each  other.  I  do  not  mean  to  steal  from 
each  other,  for  that  was  a  crime.  A  man  could 
absolutely  leave  his  outfit  on  the  sidewalk  for  a 
week  and  no  one  would  touch  it,  but  buying  and 
selling  and  cornering  the  market  on  certain  supplies 
was  the  biggest  industry,  outside  of  the  drink 
traffic.  One  Jew  tried  to  corner  the  market  on 
matches  in  the  middle  of  the  winter,  but  failed. 
Several  times  the  market  was  cornered  on  fresh 
potatoes,  which  would  sell  for  a  dollar  a  pound. 

So  I  took  it  upon  myself  to  start  in  this  line  of 
business.  I  did  not  have  the  heart  to  try  to  sell 
whiskey,  but  thought  I  would  try  my  luck  at  selling 
provisions.  By  this  time  I  had  a  little  money  saved, 
and  would  buy  and  sell  potatoes  at  a  good  profit, 
and  did  equally  as  well  as  I  did  with  the  phonograph. 


84  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

One  day,  as  I  was  buying  some  potatoes,  I  saw 
underneath  them  a  lot  of  patent  stovepipe,  crated  in 
bunches.  I  managed  to  buy  all  the  man  had,  and 
made  forty  cents  a  length  on  it,  cleaning  up  two 
hundred  dollars  in  one  afternoon,  as  this  was  the 
only  stovepipe  for  sale  in  the  town. 

This  gave  me  the  idea  how  to  do  it,  and  I  started 
out  to  find  what  there  was  a  shortage  of  in  the 
town. 

There  was  no  way  to  ship  supplies  or  provisions 
to  Dawson  in  the  winter,  and  if  one  could  find  any 
shortage  in  the  market,  it  was  profitable  to  buy  up 
all  of  that  article  and  hold  it  for  a  higher  price. 

One  day  I  had  an  attack  of  toothache,  and  calling 
on  my  friend,  the  dentist,  said,  "Hello,  Scotty,  are 
you  still  fixing  teeth  ?" 

"Oh,  I'm  doing  a  bit  of  filling,  but  can't  make 
any  false  teeth,  for  there  is  no  plaster-of-paris  to  be 
had  in  the  country." 

"Why,  is  there  any  great  demand  for  plaster- 
of-paris?"  I  asked. 

"Indeed,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  all  den- 
tists and  surgeons  to  use  it.  The  false  teeth  busi- 
ness is  rushing  right  now,  for  the  scurvy,  with 
which  so  many  miners  are  afflicted,  causes  the  teeth 


"Patent  Plaster"  85 

to  drop  out  like  marbles,  and  the  gums  to  dent  in 
like  putty." 

I  could  hardly  wait  until  the  dentist  got  through 
with  me,  when  I  started  out  in  search  of  plaster- 
of-paris,  or  some  substitute  for  it.  I  called  at  one 
of  the  big  company  stores,  and  found  that  they  had 
ordered  three  barrels ;  but  when  it  arrived,  it  turned 
out  to  be  patent  plaster,  so  the  clerk  said. 

I  asked  the  clerk  if  he  would  not  let  me  see  it, 
that  I  might  make  use  of  it.  When  he  showed  it 
to  me,  I  gathered  up  a  small  handful  and  went  to  a 
drug  store  to  ask  what  it  was.  The  druggist  told 
me  that  it  was  plaster-of-paris,  and  asked  me  where 
I  got  it. 

Now,  I  did  not  want  to  tell  this  druggist  where 
it  came  from,  for  if  I  did,  that  would  prevent  me 
from  making  any  money  on  it,  so  I  told  him  that  I 
had  fifty  pounds  of  it,  and  it  was  of  no  use  to  me. 
He  made  me  an  offer  of  a  dollar  a  pound  for  the 
fifty  pounds,  so  I  returned  to  the  Company's  store 
and  asked  them  for  fifty  pounds  of  patent  plaster, 
which  they  sold  to  me  at  twenty-five  cents  a  pound. 

They  did  it  up  for  me,  putting  it  on  my  dog-sled, 
and  I  returned  and  sold  it  to  the  druggist;  then  I 
repeated  this  at  the  next  drug  store.     There  were 


86  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

four  drug  stores  in  Dawson  at  that  time,  and  every 
one  took  fifty  pounds  of  plaster-of-paris,  each  think- 
ing he  was  buying  all  there  was  in  the  country. 
After  each  sale  I  would  return  to  the  Company's 
store  and  ask  for  some  more  patent  plaster. 

When  I  had  finished  the  four  drug  stores  and 
had  sold  two  hundred  pounds,  the  clerk  at  the 
Company's  store  asked  me  what  I  was  doing  with  so 
much  of  that  plaster.  I  told  him  that  a  foolish 
fellow  down  there  was  buying  it  from  me,  and  that 
probably  he  intended  to  make  a  statue  of  Chief  Isaac 
of  Moose  Hide. 

As  soon  as  I  had  supplied  all  the  druggists  in 
town,  it  dawned  upon  me  that  they  would  sell  it 
to  the  dentists.  Then  I  started  out  for  the  den- 
tists, and  supplied  each  of  them  with  twenty  pounds, 
telling  them  a  story  similar  to  the  one  told  the 
druggists ;  till  I  came  to  the  last  one, — the  Scotch- 
man,— who  had  told  me  of  the  demand  for  plaster- 
of-paris. 

Just  as  I  was  driving  a  bargain  with  him,  the 
telephone  rang  and  a  druggist  informed  him  that 
he  had  some  plaster-of-paris  now  to  sell,  and  that 
he  would  take  two  dollars  a  pound  for  it. 

The  dentist  replied,  "There  is  a  man  here  now 


"Patent  Plaster"  87 

trying  to  sell  me  plaster-of-paris  for  a  dollar  a 
pound." 

They  had  a  little  more  conversation  over  the 
'phone,  which  I  could  not  hear,  but  which  spoiled 
my  last  sale. 

Altogether  I  had  sold  three  hundred  pounds,  and 
had  cleared  seventy-five  cents  a  pound.  I  dare  say 
the  druggists  and  dentists  in  that  country  are  well 
supplied  with  plaster-of-paris  to  this  day.  There- 
after I  was  known  in  Dawson  as  "Patent  Plaster," 
for  the  material  I  sold  was  plaster-of-paris,  and 
the  mistake  was  on  the  part  of  the  N.  A.  T. 
Company's  clerk,  from  whom  I  bought  it,  in  not 
knowing  plaster-of-paris  when  he  saw  it.  In  a  way 
similar  to  this  a  great  many  people  received  their 
nicknames.  It  was  a  rare  thing  to  know  a  man's 
true  name  in  that  country. 

I  made  good  money  after  that  selling  canned 
goods,  for  most  everything  there  was  canned,  even 
to  the  music.  They  had  canned  music  for  phono- 
graphs, canned  potatoes,  canned  fruit  of  all  kinds, 
canned  sweet  potatoes,  canned  onions,  and  even  the 
butter  came  in  cans. 

So  I  put  in  my  time  buying  and  selling  canned 
goods  for  the  rest  of  the  winter,  and  made  far  more 


88  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

money  than  I  did  while  engaged  in  the  illegitimate 
business  of  the  whiskey  traffic. 

All  this  time  my  heart  grew  more  fond  of  little 
Minnie,  and  apparently  she  grew  more  fond  of  me ; 
for  she  always  waited  and  watched  for  me  at  the 
cabin  door,  and  greeted  me  with  her  sweet  smile 
and  caress,  which  paid  me  for  all  my  efforts  and 
trials.  I  had  never  before  known  the  real  happi- 
ness of  a  woman's  love. 

She  had  long  since  given  up  the  hope  of  finding 
her  brother  in  Dawson,  and  all  we  talked  of  was 
our  trip  in  the  spring;  how  we  would  go  down  the 
river  to  Nome,  meet  her  brother,  and  make  our 
fortune. 

Occasionally  the  old  miner,  Donovan,  would 
come  up  to  our  cabin,  and  tell  us  what  he  expected 
us  to  do  and  what  we  were  to  get  and  wear;  and 
somehow  his  coming  was  always  dreaded,  for  he 
seemed  not  to  know  as  much  as  he  pretended  to — 
like  a  great  many  others  in  Dawson  who,  by  mere 
accident,  made  a  lot  of  money,  regardless  of  the 
small  quantity  of  brain  they  possessed.  It  isn't  the 
smart  man  who  makes  a  fortune  in  a  mining  camp, 
but  usually  the  fool,  who  cannot  keep  it. 

One  evening  as  we  sat  in  the  cabin,  there  was  a 


"Patent  Plaster"  80 

rap  at  the  door,  and  all  shouted  at  once,  "Come  in." 

A  tall,  lanky  looking  Swede,  dressed  in  overalls 
and  a  flannel  shirt,  with  a  corn-cob  pipe  in  his 
mouth,  pushed  the  door  open.  He  said,  "I  am 
Charley  Sanderson,  and  I  tank  I  want  to  see  Swede 
girl  lives  here.  I  got  one  million  dollars  in  gold, 
and  I  tank  I  make  her  purty  happy.  I  not  know, 
but  I  tank  so." 

Now  I  had  heard  of  this  Charley  Sanderson,  who 
worked  as  a  laborer  for  wages  at  one  time  in  that 
country,  and  managed  to  save  eight  hundred  dollars. 
He  came  to  Dawson  with  the  first  big  rush ; 
some  gamblers  got  around  him,  and  while  he  was 
drunk  sold  him  a  claim  on  the  "Eldorado,"  about 
No.  7,  above  the  "Discovery." 

The  next  morning  after  this  purchase,  when 
Charley  Sanderson  woke  up  from  his  stupid  condi- 
tion, he  realized  with  tears  that  his  eight  hundred 
dollars  in  gold-dust  were  gone  ;  and  that  all  he  had  to 
show  for  it  was  the  title  for  this  placer  claim. 

As  he  was  only  a  half-witted,  green  Swede,  he 
at  once  hunted  up  the  gamblers  who  had  sold  him 
the  claim,  and  tried  to  force  them  to  give  him  back 
his  money,  which  they  refused  to  do.  Even  the 
mounted  police  could  do  nothing  for  him. 


90  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Someone  suggested  that  he  go  out  and  dig  a  hole 
on  his  claim,  and  see  if  he  could  find  the  pay-streak ; 
and  after  a  good  deal  of  persuasion  he  did  this, 
sinking  the  hole  twelve  feet  deep  to  bed-rock.  In  the 
first  panful  of  gravel  he  washed,  he  found  one 
thousand  dollars  in  gold-dust. 

He  continued  this  work  until  he  took  out  one 
million  dollars,  during  which  time  he  never  changed 
his  underclothes  or  his  overalls. 

Just  think  of  a  man  dressed  in  a  flannel  shirt 
and  overalls,  with  one  million  dollars,  looking  for  a 
wife !  It  worried  me  a  little  bit.  I  did  not  know 
what  temptation  it  might  be  to  little  Minnie ;  but 
when  she  looked  him  over,  in  her  sweet  way  she 
dismissed  him,  and  told  him  she  was  aiming  for 
something  higher  in  life  than  gold.  So  the  green 
Swede  returned  to  his  claim,  and  later  on  married 
a  girl  out  of  a  dance  hall. 

He  took  part  of  his  money  and  bought  No.  12 
above,  on  Eldorado,  which  yielded  a  similar  amount 
of  gold  to  that  of  No.  7  above.  Then  he  went  to 
San  Francisco  and  bought  a  handsome  residence ; 
and  between  the  dance-hall  girl,  her  capper,  and  the 
courts  of  San  Francisco,  Charley  Sanderson  was 
forced  to  go  back  on  the  section-gang  in  the  state 


"Patent  Plaster"  91 

of  Washington  at  one  dollar  and  seventy-five  cents 
a  day. 


Starting  for  Nome 


CHAPTER  VII. 

STARTING  FOR  NOME. 

One  morning  in  early  spring,  while  eating  break- 
fast, Long  Bill  informed  us  that  he  had  been  too 
long  in  Dawson ;  that  it  was  time  to  start  on  that 
trip  to  Nome,  where  the  big  strike  was  on. 

"I  was  down  looking  at  the  bally  river  yesterday," 
he  said,  "and  the  ice  is  all  broken  up,  so  that  it 
would  be  possible  to  start  as  soon  as  we  can  inter- 
view Donovan  and  get  our  outfits  together,  doncher- 
know." 

So  in  less  than  a  week  we  were  all  packed  up  and 
ready  to  start  on  our  long  trip ;  and  as  we  left  our 
cabin  door,  Minnie  and  I  gave  it  one  long,  last  look, 
realizing  that  the  happiness  we  had  known  in  the 
cabin  would  never  be  forgotten.  I  told  her  that 
I  would  be  quite  willing  to  remain  in  that  cabin  for 
the  rest  of  my  life  if  I  could  have  her  with  me,  re- 
gardless of  fortune  or  other  pleasures.  But  it  was 
not  to  be,  for  her  answer  was,  "No,  dear,  I  feel 

95 


96  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

that  I  must  make  this  trip.  After  that,  I  cannot 
say;  it  may  be  that  our  lives  will  be  united.  Did 
you  ever  have  a  dream  of  happiness  just  a  little 
way  ahead  of  you,  that  seeemd  for  you,  and  yet 
you  could  not  realize  just  what  it  was?  My  ambi- 
tion is  to  lead  a  grand  life,  as  a  lady  of  the  land — 
a  princess,  or  somebody  of  note ;  for  I  believe  that 
I  have  lived  on  this  earth  before,  and  filled  that 
position,  and  that  I  am  now  reincarnated,  and 
searching  for  my  home." 

I  had  heard  her  give  hints  before  of  her  views 
on  reincarnation,  but  did  not  pay  much  attention  to 
it,  thinking  perhaps  she  had  read  it  in  some  book ; 
for  she  had  been  studying  English  day  and  night, 
and  reading  every  book  she  could  get  hold  of. 

Her  remarks  bothered  me  considerably,  for  I 
knew  there  was  no  royal  blood  in  our  family.  Long 
Bill  tried  to  make  out  sometimes  that  there  was 
in  his ;  but  I  was  sure  she  never  gave  him  any  en- 
couragement. If  she  ever  expected  to  be  a  great 
lady,  I  would  either  have  to  lose  her,  or  she  would 
have  to  be  greatly  disappointed. 

We  hurried  down  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  where 
our  party,  consisting  of  the  old  miner,  Donovan, 
Long  Bill,  Ike  the  Jew,  little  Minnie  and  myself, 


Starting  for  Nome  97 

waved  a  goodbye  to  Dawson ;  and  were  soon  on  our 
way  floating  down  the  Yukon,  in  a  large  rowboat, 
equipped  with  enough  provisions  to  last  six  months, 
if  necessary  ;  compass,  guns,  ammunition,  field-glass, 
blankets,  dogs,  etc. 

"Down"  in  reference  to  the  Yukon  and  other 
rivers  in  that  country  means  north,  and  there  was 
no  exertion  connected  with  floating  down  the  Yukon 
River  in  a  rowboat,  especially  below  Dawson.  We 
simply  laid  back  in  the  boat  and  told  one  story  after 
another;  listened  to  Long  Bill's  yarns  of  South 
Africa,  where  he  had  served  four  years  as  a  Cape- 
mounted  rifleman,  talked  of  the  riches  we  were 
going  to  obtain,  and  what  we  were  going  to  do  with 
them;  how  we  were  going  to  pass  the  rest  of  our 
lives  in  retirement ;  how  much  gold  it  takes  to 
weigh  a  pound,  and  how  much  we  would  have  if  we 
had  all  we  could  carry. 

We  could  listen  to  the  gravel  constantly  rolling 
on  the  bottom  of  the  river,  and  gaze  at  the  snow- 
peaked  mountains  and  high  cliffs  of  rock  on  the 
right  and  the  left ;  and  the  trees  hanging  with  black 
moss,  with  now  and  then  a  beautiful  fall  of  water 
over  a  high  cliff,  coming  from  some  mountain 
stream. 


98  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

"Had  we  started  on  this  trip  two  months  later," 
said  Long  Bill,  "the  salmon  would  have  been 
running  up  the  river,  doncherknow,  and  it  would 
have  been  deucedly  awkward,  for  they  come  in 
droves  so  thick  that  they  crowd  each  other  out  on  the 
banks,  as  they  run  up  the  Yukon  and  smaller  streams 
to  the  source,  to  spawn.  The  largest  canning  fac- 
tories are  usually  at  the  mouths  of  the  rivers,  and 
the  bally  fish  are  caught  in  traps  or  nets  before 
starting  up  the  river;  for  on  reaching  fresh  water, 
doncherknow,  they  become  blind,  and  are  so  badly 
bruised  by  bumping  against  the  bloomin'  rocks,  and 
other  obstacles,  that  they  are  not  fit  for  use." 

So  in  peace,  and  with  pleasant  prospects,  we 
floated  along  until  night,  when  we  landed  in  a  little 
clump  of  bushes,  where  we  camped.  As  we  were 
about  to  sit  down  on  the  ground  to  eat  our  supper, 
Minnie  gave  a  jump  and  scream,  which  startled 
all  of  us. 

"What  is  it,  Minnie?"  we  all  asked  at  once. 

"I  thought  I  saw  a  snake,"  she  replied. 

"Never  fear,"  said  Bill,  "for  the  blessed  St. 
Patrick  visited  this  country,  as  well  as  Ireland, 
doncherknow,  and  we  have  no  snakes  or  toads  here. 
Even  the  Isle  of  Man  could  be  jealous  of  Alaska, 


Starting  for  Nome  99 

for  here  not  only  the  blasted  cats  are  born  without 
tails,  but  the  mice  are  bob-tailed,  too." 

The  following  morning  we  were  early  on  our 
way,  and  thus  we  drifted  on  past  Fort  Yukon  and 
a  few  smaller  settlements  until  we  reached  the 
Yukon  Flats,  where  the  old  miner,  Donovan,  insisted 
that  we  should  keep  to  the  right.  At  this  point  the 
Yukon  is  many  miles  wide,  and  forms  a  large 
swamp. 

While  we  looked  upon  Donovan  as  boss,  instructor 
and  guide,  nevertheless,  there  arose  a  hot  discussion 
between  him  and  Long  Bill  as  to  which  shore  of 
the  flats  to  follow.  The  old  miner  declared  the  right 
was  the  one ;  Long  Bill  argued  for  the  left,  for  it 
was  generally  known  that  the  left-hand  side  of  these 
flats  was  the  main  stream. 

However,  after  lengthy  argument  and  discussion, 
we  finally  gave  in  to  Donovan,  and  continued  on  our 
way  by  keeping  to  the  right. 

After  uneventfully  drifting  along  for  three  days, 
without  finding  a  place  to  land,  we  commenced 
moving  very  slowly,  and  began  to  get  anxious,  won- 
dering why  the  Yukon  did  not  flow  faster  at  this 
point. 

Long  Bill  remarked,  "Drot  it,  we  are  not  in  the 


100  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Yukon  River.  'Pon  my  word,  the  best  thing  we 
can  do  is  to  throw  Donovan  overboard  and  return." 

At  this  time  I  was  not  in  for  violence,  but  many 
times  later  on  wished  I  had  consented,  for  the  old 
miner  insisted  he  was  right,  and  we  continued  on 
down  the  slow-running  stream. 

By  this  time  we  were  compelled  to  keep  gloves  on, 
and  our  heads  covered  with  netting,  for  the  mos- 
quitos  were  so  thick  we  often  had  to  brush  them 
away  in  order  to  see  each  other. 


Lost  in  the  Yukon  Flats 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LOST    IN    THE    YUKON    FLATS. 

On  the  fifth  day,  we  were  surrounded  by  a  vast 
swamp  of  tall  grass,  growing  in  bunches,  common- 
ly known  in  that  country  as  "niggerhead."  Raise 
what  argument  we  might  that  we  were  going  in  the 
wrong  direction,  our  guide  and  grub-staker  insisted 
that  we  go  on.  On  the  sixth  day,  however,  he  did 
consent  that  we  should  row  back,  but  by  that  time 
we  were  down  in  among  the  niggerheads,  or  tall 
grass,  so  far  that  we  did  not  know  which  way  was 
back. 

Now  I  had  often  prided  myself  on  knowing  east, 
west,  north  and  south  without  the  aid  of  a  compass, 
but  I  could  not  think  of  contradicting  the  compass, 
and  it  seemed  to  point  nearly  opposite  to  the  way 
I  thought  was  north,  so  I  gave  up  like  a  whipped 
dog,  and  followed  the  compass.  Who  could  do 
better? 

Knowing  that  we  had  traveled  north  down  the 

109 


104  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Yukon,  and  northwest  in  entering  the  swamp,  we 
decided  to  travel  southeast  to  get  out  of  the  swamp, 
so  we  pointed  our  boat  directly  southeast.  A  little- 
later  we  all  got  into  an  argument  as  to  which  way 
we  should  go,  and  it  ended  by  Ike,  the  Jew,  and 
Donovan  both  insisting  that  we  should  travel  directly 
north,  where  we  would  at  least  find  land  sooner  or 
later.  Bill  gave  in  and  consented  to  go  north,  which 
made  three  against  me,  so  I  gave  up,  but  felt  sure 
we  were  taking  the  wrong  direction.  However,  I 
was  in  hopes  we  would  at  least  find  land  soon.  The 
truth  of  the  matter  was  that  we  were  lost  in  a 
swamp,  and  so  frightened  that  we  were  confused ; 
but  at  last  we  headed  our  boat,  according  to  the 
compass,  directly  north. 

Little  Minnie  held  the  compass  and  told  us  when 
to  go  right  or  left,  so  after  that  we  called  her  "Our 
Compass ;"  and  many  times  I  hoped  that  I  would 
remain  her  attraction,  and  told  her  that  I  would 
call  myself  the  "North  Pole"  and  her  the  "Compass." 

One  night  a  peculiar  incident  occurred.  When 
we  had  all  rolled  up  in  our  blankets  to  go  to  sleep. 
I  felt  a  rocking  of  the  boat,  and  on  opening  my 
eyes,  I  saw  little  Minnie  about  to  step  over  the  edge 
of  the  boat,  as  if  she  were  reaching  for  someone. 


Lost  in  the  Yukon  Flats  105 

I  grabbed  her,  pulling  her  back  just  in  time  to 
save  her. 

"Minnie,"  I  exclaimed,  "what  are  you  trying  to 
do,  drown  yourself?" 

"No,"  replied  Minnie,  "I  thought  I  was  follow- 
ing my  prince,  the  hero  of  my  dreams  since  child- 
hood. He  was  beckoning  for  me  to  follow  him, 
strewing  my  way  with  roses,  and  he  said  he  would 
take  me  to  his  palace." 

"Minnie,  would  you  leave  me  for  a  prince?" 

"Dearie,  I  am  afraid  I  would  if  it  were  the  prince 
I  have  just  seen.     But  it  was  only  a  dream."    . 

"I  am  very  glad  it  was  only  a  dream,"  I  answered, 
"for  I  could  not  give  you  up." 

Nevertheless,  this  dream  started  me  thinking,  and 
caused  me  to  pass  a  restless  night. 

On  the  seventh  day  we  seemed  farther  off  than 
ever.  The  boat  was  propelled  by  pulling  on  the 
tall  grass,  growing  in  bunches  on  each  side  of  the 
boat,  so  dense  that  we  could  scarcely  get  through 
at  times.  There  were  no  mountains  or  trees  to  be 
seen;  in  fact,  we  could  not  at  any  time  see  more 
than  five  feet  away  from  our  boat,  for  these  bunches 
of  grass  which  encircled  us  were  from  six  to  ten 
feet  high,  and  kept  us  from  gaining  any  knowledge 


106  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

of  our  surroundings.  The  only  thing  left  for  us 
to  do  was  to  follow  the  compass  north,  with  the 
hope  of  finding  land,  or  some  river,  even  if  it  were 
not  the  Yukon. 

So,  trusting  to  the  compass,  we  hurried  on  for 
days,  awkward  as  it  was  for  five  people  having  to 
cook,  eat  and  sleep  day  after  day,  with  no  chance  or 
opportunity  to  get  out  of  the  boat;  and  the  dogs 
were  becoming  a  nuisance. 

To  add  to  our  discomfort,  it  poured  down  rain 
every  second  or  third  day.  We  had  one  spell  of 
rain  which  lasted  three  days  without  stopping. 
While  it  made  us  very  uncomfortable,  it  gave  us  a 
little  rest  from  the  mosquitos. 

During  some  of  this  time,  Long  Bill  lay  on  his 
back  in  the  boat,  and  slept  with  his  blanket  over  him, 
holding  it  up  to  a  peak  with  a  short  stick  so  it  would 
shed  the  water.  The  only  time  he  ever  complained 
was  when  he  stuck  his  head  out  from  under  his 
blanket  one  morning,  and  said,  "I  say,  this  is 
deucedly  awkward,  doncherknow !" 

The  rest  of  us  had  our  blankets  over  our  shoul- 
ders, which  kept  us  warm,  but  not  very  dry.  A 
square  coal-oil  can  served  us  as  a  stove,  and  we 
used  the  dried  grass  for  fuel. 


Lost  in  the  Yukon  Flats  107 

The  water  was  from  four  to  eight  feet  deep,  and 
in  some  places  still  deeper.  With  plenty  of  fish 
and  ducks,  we  fared  well. 

Days  passed  into  weeks,  yet  nothing  else  could 
be  seen  but  tall  grass  surroundings,  and  we  were 
quite  sure  that  we  had  traveled  from  eight  to  ten 
miles  a  day,  still  forcing  our  boat  along  by  pulling 
on  the  grass,  which  was  close  up  to  its  sides.  We 
tried  to  build,  with  our  outfits,  a  platform  to  stand 
on,  so  that  we  could  see  over  the  grass. 

Bill  mounted  the  platform,  being  the  tallest  in  the 
crowd,  and  tried  to  crane  his  long,  lean  neck  above 
the  waving  grass,  but  his  despairing  cry  was,  "Not 
a  blasted  thing  can  I  see  but  this  bally  grass!" 

After  one  month  had  passed,  and  we  had  given 
up  in  despair,  I  noticed  that  the  dried  blades  of 
the  grass  that  floated  on  the  top  of  the  water  all 
pointed  in  one  direction.  This  made  me  think  that 
the  water  was  running  that  way,  though  if  moving 
at  all,  it  moved  very  slowly.  So  we  continued  on 
our  way  to  the  north,  as  we  supposed,  still  follow- 
ing the  compass,  also  following  the  current  of 
water  shown  by  the  floating  grass. 


The  Mysterious  Smoke 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   MYSTERIOUS  SMOKE. 

About  the  end  of  the  sixth  week,  we  noticed 
directly  ahead  of  us  in  the  sky,  a  terrific  smoke, 
resembling  a  great  forest  fire  at  a  distance.  The  Jew 
screamed  with  fear,  "The  grass  has  caught  fire,  and 
we  are  doomed !"  and  we  knew  if  that  were  the  case. 
we  might  as  well  give  up  hope.  While  we  might 
save  ourselves  for  a  time  by  getting  into  the  water, 
our  outfits  and  boat  would  surely  burn;  and  Bill 
suggested  that  it  would  be  better  to  drown  than 
burn;  so  the  Jew  began  praying,  and  we  all  pre- 
pared to  die. 

While  we  were  waiting  in  suspense  for  our  im- 
pending doom,  the  sun  sank  slowly  out  of  sight.  It 
was  indeed  a  sleepless  night,  for  now  added  to  the 
torment  of  the  mosquitos  and  the  aching  of  our 
limbs,  caused  by  our  cramped  position  in  the  boat, 
was  the  horror  of  thinking  that  at  any  moment  the 
fire  might  be  upon  us. 


112  Attraction  of   the  Compass 

When  day  dawned,  great  was  our  astonishment 
to  see  no  trace  of  smoke,  and  we  decided  that  the 
fire  had  gone  out;  so  we  still  kept  on  in  the  same 
direction  for  another  week.  Finally  an  increase 
in  the  current  was  noticed,  enabling  us  to  travel 
faster.  We  occasionally  saw  the  smoke,  but  for  us 
it  had  lost  its  terror. 

One  evening  the  smoke  appeared  more  plainly 
than  before,  and  seemed  to  rise  in  great  clouds  to 
the  sky,  then  to  die  down  again. 

Long  Bill  immediately  shouted,  "It  is  the  smoke 
from  an  active  volcano !  It  must  be !"  Then  he 
explained  to  us  that  when  a  young  boy  he  had 
visited  Vesuvius,  and  had  seen  that  volcano  in 
action. 

On  the  fourth  day  after  this  could  be  seen,  in 
the  distance,  a  barren  mountain,  high  and  black, 
without  a  tree  or  any  indication  of  foliage.  Our 
hearts  leaped  with  joy,  for  we  knew  that  where  this 
mountain  stood  there  must  be  land,  and  what 
happiness  it  would  be  to  stand  once  more  on  land, 
a  privilege  we  had  never  before  appreciated. 

In  two  more  days  our  boat  was  traveling  as  fast 
as  it  did  in  the  Yukon  River,  before  we  became 
lost  in  the  swamp ;  and  one  morning  we  found  our- 


The  Mysterious  Smoke  113 

selves  at  the  mouth  of  a  river,  into  which  the  swamp 
apparently  emptied. 

We  were  now  floating  at  a  rapid  speed  and  knew 
that  we  must  get  out  of  the  current,  because  as  the 
waters  narrowed,  we  sped  on  and  on  faster  and 
faster,  until  we  realized  the  prospective  danger  of 
being  carried  over  falls,  or  perhaps  into  some  rapids. 
We  knew  not  what  was  ahead.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  land ;  but  row  as  we  might,  with  all  our 
efforts  it  seemed  impossible  to  get  that  boat  out  of 
the  middle  of  the  stream. 

The  river  was  running  so  fast  at  this  point  that 
it  fairly  rounded  up  in  the  middle.  On  ahead,  we 
saw  a  large  hill  of  grass  such  as  we  had  passed 
through,  which  had  drifted  there  from  time  to  time ; 
and  the  river,  seemingly,  ran  directly  under  it,  the 
grass  floating  on  top  of  the  water. 

Our  boat  was  heading  straight  for  this  hill  of 
grass,  and  the  water  fairly  made  a  whirlpool  in 
front  of  it,  and  we  knew  we  could  not  avoid  being 
sucked  under. 

I  stood  in  the  bow  of  the  boat  with  the  rope  in 
my  hand,  ready  to  make  a  leap  when  the  boat  struck 
the  grass.  We  felt  sure  the  boat  and  outfit  could 
not  be  saved  from  going  under,  but  hoped  to  rescue 


114  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

ourselves. 

When  I  leaped  onto  the  grass,  it  sank  with  my 
weight,  which  caused  it  to  start  floating  down 
stream ;  and  turning  around,  it  broke  loose  from  the 
shore. 

Long  Bill,  Donovan  and  Ike  remained  in  the  boat 
with  Minnie,  and  took  to  the  oars  and  the  pole. 
Shouting  to  them  to  save  themselves,  I  floated  down 
the  stream  on  the  island  of  grass.  But  it  soon 
brought  up  to  the  bank  of  the  river  again,  where  I 
made  a  leap  for  some  overhanging  moss  and  earth 
on  the  edge  of  the  bank,  which  gave  way  and  buried 
my  legs  and  body  under  the  water ;  while  the  grass, 
which  was  now  in  the  seething  current,  went  rolling 
and  tumbling  down  the  river. 

In  the  meantime,  the  boat  had  struck  on  the 
sandbar,  which  had  caused  the  grass  to  lodge  and 
accumulate  there.  Bill  was  soon  out  of  the  boat,  and 
seeing  my  danger,  immediately  snatched  a  rope 
from  the  boat  and  ran  along  the  bank  to  my  rescue, 
throwing  me  the  rope,  which  I  made  fast  around 
my  shoulders.  Donovan  and  Ike  were  there  by  this 
time,  and  Long  Bill  gave  the  end  of  the  rope  to  Ike, 
while  he  crawled  down  the  bank  to  the  water's  edge, 
where  he  tugged  and  pulled  at  me ;  until,  by  the  aid 


The  Mysterious  Smoke  115 

of  the  swift  current,  I  was  released  from  my  per- 
ilous, half-buried  position. 

My  legs  were  almost  paralyzed  from  the  cold 
water,  and  refused  to  carry  me,  so  I  was  lifted  by 
the  three  men  and  landed  safely  on  the  bank  of  the 
river,  where  they  left  me  to  recover,  while  they 
brought  the  outfits  ashore. 

As  soon  as  Little  Compass  found  that  I  was  safe, 
she  started  a  fire  close  by  me  to  dry  my  clothes; 
and  when  she  patted  me  on  the  cheek  and  looked 
into  my  eyes,  I  was  sure  that  she  loved  me.  Even 
though  her  manner  had  been  a  little  cool  of  late,  I 
had  thought  it  due  to  the  hardships  and  discom- 
forts of  our  trip ;  and  I  felt  then,  that  I  was  willing 
to  remain  in  this  desolate  spot  for  life,  if  I  were 
sure  of  retaining  her  presence  and  love. 

I  was  soon  on  my  feet  again,  but  fell  with  weak- 
ness; and  only  after  several  efforts  was  I  able  to 
assist  little  Minnie  with  our  meal. 


On  the  Banks  of  the  River 


CHAPTER  X. 

ON   THE  BANKS  OF  THE  RIVER. 

There  never  was  a  woman  who  could,  under  sim- 
ilar circumstances,  prepare  a  meal  with  so  little 
effort  as  Minnie,  our  Little  Compass.  She  would 
squat  down  cross-legged  by  the  fire,  with  pans  and 
kettles  surrounding  her,  and  give  the  men  orders, 
in  her  newly  acquired  English,  which  was  very  pre- 
cise and  correct. 

"Long  Bill,  get  a  pan  of  water;  and  Professor, 
hand  me  that  molasses  can,  which  contains  the  sour 
dough.  Now  then,  the  salt  and  a  little  sugar.  The 
flour  is  in  that  farthest  sack ;  please  pass  that  next,'' 
and  so  on  until  the  batter  was  the  right  thickness 
for  pancakes ;  after  which  she  poured  back  the  same 
amount  taken  away  from  the  sour  dough,  a  custom 
necessarily  followed  by  all  miners  in  Alaska.  Put- 
ting a  little  more  flour  in  the  batter,  she  stirred  it 
thoroughly,  and  started  the  pancakes  going. 

"Professor,  turn  the  pancakes,  while  I  soak  the 
110 


120  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

dried  potatoes.  Bill,  open  the  canned  meat,  then 
bring  more  water." 

Meanwhile  Donovan  and  Ike  were  pitching  the 
tent,  and  cutting  and  preparing  a  brush  bed. 

In  an  incredibly  short  time  Minnie  announced 
that  the  meal  was  ready,  and  never  was  food  more 
thoroughly  relished  and  enjoyed  than  this,  our  first 
feast  on  land. 

We  had  almost  forgotten  how  to  walk,  and 
indeed  it  had  required  a  great  effort  to  bring  our- 
selves to  realize  that  we  were  on  land  again.  For 
the  first  time  since  entering  the  swamp  we  were 
able  to  remove  our  headgear  of  mosquito  netting. 

How  well  I  remember  that  night.  We  could  hear 
the  roaring  of  the  river  and  see  the  smoke  of  the 
volcano,  which  had  frightened  us  so  badly  while 
floating  in  the  swamp,  yet  we  could  realize  that  it 
was  many  miles  away.  The  sun  was  visible  all 
night,  with  the  exception  of  one  hour  and  forty 
minutes ;  and  what  seemed  remarkable  to  us,  was 
that  it  apparently  set  and  came  up  again  in  the 
same  place. 

We  did  not  undertake  to  go  any  farther  for  two 
days,  but  rested  and  tried  to  get  our  bearings,  in 
order  to  determine  where  we  were ;  but  all  that 


On  the  Banks  of  the  River  121 

country  was  new  to  us.  On  one  side  was  the  vast 
swamp,  through  which  we  had  traveled  so  long; 
on  the  other  could  be  seen  nothing  but  lowlands  cov- 
ered with  shrubbery,  mostly  blueberry  bushes,  which 
were  loaded  with  fruit  at  this  season.  It  is  need- 
less to  say  that  we  feasted  on  these  berries,  which 
were  a  great  treat ;  in  fact,  the  first  fresh  fruit  we 
had  tasted  for  a  year.  Moss  berries  and  salmon 
berries  were  also  plentiful. 

One  morning  Long  Bill  went  a  little  farther  down 
the  bank,  looking  for  firewood,  when  suddenly  he 
returned,   exclaiming : 

"  Ton  my  word,  Professor,  I  have  made  a  wonder- 
ful discovery !  Gravel  filled  full  of  gold !  Come 
and  let  me  show  you  !" 

So  we  all  ran  to  see  his  discovery,  and  sure 
enough,  the  very  gravel  on  which  we  were  walking 
was  filled  with  yellow  streaks. 

Picking  up  one  of  these  pieces  of  gravel,  and 
examining  it,  I  noticed  that  the  streaks  were  only  on 
one  side  of  it,  but  did  not  say  anything,  for  I  was 
not  sure  what  had  caused  it. 

Long  Bill  was  very  much  excited,  and  immediately 
began  planning  how  he  would  return  to  England 
and    raise    capital    to    build    a    railroad    into    this 


122  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

country ;  how  immensely  rich  he  would  be ;  how  his 
relatives  would  envy  him,  and  how  he  would  be  able 
to  send  them  a  remittance,  thereby  shaming  them 
for  cutting  off  his  allowance,  etc. 

"Professor,  what  would  Swiftwater  Bill  say  if 
he  could  see  this  pay  gravel  ?" 

I  did  not  answer,  but  as  I  sat  listening  to  his  wild 
dreams,  I  rubbed  the  yellow  streak  off  the  gravel 
with  my  wet  fingers.     Turning  to  him  I  said : 

"Bill,  let  me  see  the  bottom  of  your  boot." 

"Why?"  asked  Bill. 

Poor  Bill !  It  was  just  as  I  thought.  There  were 
brass  nails  in  his  boots  that  had  caused  these  yellow 
streaks  on  the  gravel. 

Bill  hardly  spoke  again  that  day,  his  entire  hope 
having  sunk  into  the  brass  nails  in  his  boots.  We 
all  tried  to  cheer  him,  but  with  little  result. 

Donovan,  who  was  supposed  to  be  our  guide,  yet 
had  gotten  us  into  all  this  trouble,  insisted  that  it 
would  be  perfectly  right  for  us  to  get  into  the  boat 
and  go  on  down  the  river  which  we  had  discovered, 
and  that  eventually  we  would  reach  the  Yukon  or 
some  lake.  This  I  positively  refused  to  do,  where- 
upon he  said  that  if  I  did  not,  he  would  take  the 
outfits,  food  and  all,  inasmuch  as  they  belonged  to 


On  the  Banks  of  the  River  123 

him,  and  go  alone. 

I  at  once  told  him  that  if  he  were  in  civilization 
he  might  do  that,  but  where  we  were  there  was  no 
law,  and  that  I  might  as  well  die  preventing  him 
doing  this  as  to  die  of  hunger ;  but  Long  Bill,  Ike 
and  I  agreed  to  give  one-fifth  of  the  outfit  and  the 
boat  to  him  and  let  him  take  a  risk  of  the  river, 
if  he  saw  fit  to  do  so. 

On  the  third  morning  he  decided  to  go,  so  we 
carefully  divided  the  dried  potatoes,  rice  and  flour, 
no  longer  having  any  bacon ;  for  the  embalming 
fluid,  composed  of  arsenic  and  alum,  used  in  em- 
balming bacon  in  the  American  packing  houses  had 
not  been  sufficient  to  preserve  the  bacon  on  the  long 
trip  through  the  swamp.  But  it  was  a  very  easy 
matter  to  kill  game  in  that  country,  as  the  animals 
had  no  fear  of  us  whatever.  A  rabbit  or  fox,  or 
any  animal  there  was  perfectly  tame,  and  acted  as 
if  it  had  never  seen  a  human  being  before,  although 
they  did  fear  the  dogs. 

The  old  miner  loaded  the  boat  and  pushed  himself 
out  into  the  river  again,  near  the  point  where  we  had 
landed  a  few  days  previous.  Waving  our  hands  at 
him,  I  realized  it  was  goodbye  forever.  Experienced 
as  he  was  in  mining,  I  thought  I  was  more  experi- 


124  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

enced  in  rivers,  and  never  would  be  willing  to  float 
down  a  river  at  the  rate  of  from  twenty  to  thirty 
miles  an  hour,  not  knowing  what  was  ahead  of  me. 

The  next  morning  the  rest  of  us  had  to  pack  the 
outfits  along  the  river  bank.  We  put  about  ten 
pounds  on  each  dog,  and  each  man  carried  from 
thirty  to  fifty  pounds  on  his  back,  for  half  a  mile ; 
then  returned  for  another  load,  our  Little  Compass 
staying  by  the  outfit  to  keep  away  the  animals  until 
we  took  the  last  load ;  while  at  the  other  end  we 
left  on  guard  our  faithful  leader  dog,  Stub. 

In  this  way  we  traveled  very  slowly,  passing  many 
weeks  going  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  down 
which  our  grubstaker  had  gone  before  at  such  a 
rapid  rate.  Day  after  day  we  looked  for  him, 
thinking  that  possibly  his  boat  would  be  lodged  in  a 
pile  of  driftwood,  but  hoping  that  he  had  made  a  safe 
landing.  After  all,  this  would  be  next  to  impossible, 
and  search  as  we  might,  nothing  was  ever  seen 
of  him. 

The  river  wound  and  bent  in  different  directions, 
until  at  last  it  passed  through  a  canyon,  and  as  we 
looked  over  its  high  walls  into  the  seething  torrent 
below  and  heard  the  roaring  of  the  water,  we 
realized  that  no  creature  could  pass  through  such  a 


'OUR  COMPA55' 


On  the  Banks  of  the  River  125 

place  and  live.  I  had  thought  Miles  Canyon  and 
White  Horse  Rapids  were  the  worst  known,  but 
there  were  three  falls  in  this  canyon,  which  made  it 
impassable.  It  was  then  we  gave  up  all  hope  of 
ever  seeing  poor  old  Donovan  again. 

Ahead,  the  barren  mountain  of  black  rock  looked 
larger  and  nearer,  and  we  hoped  against  hope  to 
soon  reach  it,  for  life  was  becoming  of  little  value 
to  us ;  although  through  it  all  a  sad  word  or  a  sigh 
was  never  heard  from  anyone  but  the  Jew,  who 
very  often  prayed  in  his  way,  remarking  that  life 
was  very  sweet  to  him;  that  he  would  be  willing  to 
do  most  anything  if  he  could  only  be  in  old  New 
York  again.  The  little  Scandinavian  girl,  our  Com- 
pass, with  her  blonde  hair  streaming  about  her  face, 
her  dress  torn  and  ragged,  never  uttered  a  com- 
plaint, but  was  always  brightly  smiling,  bringing 
a  great  deal  of  sunshine  to  our  party. 

On  and  on  we  worked  our  way  down  the  river, 
meeting  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  small  creeks 
to  cross,  and  steep  bluffs  of  rock  to  scale.  Vege- 
tation had  long  since  ceased,  and  the  earth  was 
entirely  covered  with  iron  ore.  We  no  longer  could 
tell  the  time,  for  the  three  watches  in  the  party  had 
stopped,    and    our    real    compass    pointed    directly 


126  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

towards  the  mountain. 

The  nights  were  beginning  to  be  very  cold,  and 
although  extremely  tired  and  worn  from  pack- 
ing our  outfits,  yet  we  were  unwilling  to  leave 
anything  behind,  for  to  lose  it  meant  to  shorten  our 
lives.  While  the  provisions  lasted  there  was  hope, 
but  we  knew  what  the  outcome  would  be  when  they 
were  gone.  We  also  realized  that  winter  was 
coming  on  and  that  we  could  ill  afford  to  leave  any  of 
our  clothing  or  blankets,  knowing  that  in  that  coun- 
try the  thermometer  would  fall  to  sixty  or  seventy 
below  zero,  through  a  certain  portion  of  the  winter. 

Our  shoes  were  worn  out  and  discarded,  and  in 
order  to  keep  our  feet  off  the  sharp  pieces  of 
iron  ore,  we  had  whittled  out  and  made  a  kind  of 
sandal  from  wood,  covering  the  top  with  canvas. 

Confident  that  we  were  nearing  the  mountain,  we 
worked  harder  than  ever,  relaying  and  carrying  our 
packs,  going  back  again  for  another  load.  We  con- 
tinued to  follow  the  banks  of  the  river,  in  hopes 
that  it  emptied  into  the  Yukon  or  ocean,  yet 
understanding  that  it  would  have  to  go  round  the 
mountain,  as  it  was  running  straight  toward  it. 

Our  compass  showed  this  mountain  to  be  directly 
north,  and  we  hoped  to  climb  it  to  a  high  eleva- 


On  the  Banks  of  the  River  127 

tion,  and  with  our  field-glass  locate  the  Yukon  or 
possibly  some  settlement  nearby. 


The  Iron  Mountain 


129 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE    IRON    MOUNTAIN. 


At  last,  late  one  day,  our  party  came  to  the  foot 
of  the  mountain,  to  reach  which  so  many  weary 
miles  had  been  traveled  and  so  many  weary 
weeks  spent. 

All  of  our  hopes  perished ;  there  was  no  indica- 
tion of  life  anywhere  near  it.  and  the  river  we  had 
followed  ran  into  a  cave  in  the  mountain,  which  was 
over  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  and  sixty 
feet  high  at  the  center  of  the  arch. 

The  water  was  lower  in  the  river  at  this  point, 
running  as  fast  as  the  water  from  the  nozzle  of  a 
hose,  but  did  not  reach  entirely  across  the  cave, 
thereby  forming  sort  of  a  shore  on  each  side.  Bill 
and  I,  taking  candles  and  a  rifle,  went  into  the  cave 
along  the  shore  of  the  river,  and  by  jumping  from 
one  boulder  to  another  went  so  far  into  the  cave 
that  we  were  compelled  to  light  the  candles. 

The  only  things  visible  were  boulders,  water,  and 


132  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

overhanging  walls  of  iron  ore.  The  terrible  roar 
of  the  river  sounded  as  if  we  were  going  over  a 
great  fall,  and  there  was  a  cloud  of  steam  every 
now  and  then  that  would  fill  the  cave. 

At  last  we  came  to  a  big  opening,  on  the  side  of 
the  main  cave,  which  formed  a  large,  arched  room. 
Here  the  bank  of  the  river  seemed  to  be  a  gravel 
deposit,  yet  the  gravel  was  black,  like  the  moun- 
tain. We  had  entered  the  cave  about  four  hundred 
feet,  so  sat  down  to  decide  whether  to  return  or 
go  farther  in ;  and  while  I  was  examining  the  gravel, 
which  was  all  as  black  as  coal,  I  saw  a  few  sparkling 
pieces,  and  on  closer  examination  I  found  they  were 
pure  placer  gold. 

"Bill,"  I  exclaimed,  "our  guide  led  us  to  the  gold 
after  all,  for  surely  this  is  the  most  gold  I  ever 
saw  in  one  deposit." 

The  very  gravel  we  sat  on  was  filled  with  gold, 
but  Bill  answered,  "Let's  see  the  brass  nails  in 
your  shoes." 

"No,  Bill,"  I  replied,  as  I  passed  him  a  nugget 
that  would  weigh  more  than  an  ounce,  "put  that  in 
your  hand,  you  can  tell  by  weight  what  it  is." 

We  gathered  up  some  of  the  gravel  and  put  in 
our  pockets,  and  hurriedly  started  for  the  mouth  of 


The  Iron  Mountain  133 

the  cave.  On  our  way  back,  there  was  a  terrific 
gust  of  steam,  which  filled  the  place  so  that  we 
could  not  see  even  with  the  aid  of  the  candles ;  and 
after  it  had  lifted  a  little,  I  looked  for  Long  Bill,  but 
could  not  see  him.  I  heard  a  faint  cry,  following 
which  I  found  Bill  clinging  to  a  boulder,  with  his 
body  in  the  torrent,  and  the  water  trying  to  tear 
him  away. 

I  made  a  leap,  never  thinking  of  the  distance,  for 
I  know  I  could  never  have  jumped  it  under  other 
circumstances.  As  if  some  supernatural  power  had 
lifted  me,  I  lighted  upon  the  boulder  to  which  he 
was  clinging,  and  by  a  great  deal  of  effort  got  him 
out  of  the  water. 

By  that  time  the  steam  had  cleared  away,  and  we 
again  started  for  the  mouth  of  the  cave. 

As  soon  as  Long  Bill  was  able  to  talk,  he 
exclaimed,  "I  have  faced  cannons  and  armies  ;  I  have 
been  shot  at  in  battle,  but  blow  me  if  I  ever  before 
felt  as  if  I  had  met  death  and  still  lived." 

"Bill,"  I  asked,  "how  did  it  happen?  Did  you 
slip?" 

"My  word,  but  I  was  so  bloomin'  excited  over  the 
gold,  that,  like  Lot's  wife,  I  was  looking  back  and 
slipped  into  the  water.     That  blasted  gold  is  a  de- 


134  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

lusion,  anyway.  Look  at  the  drotted  mess  it  has 
gotten  us  into.  Our  greediness  for  mere  yellow 
metal  has  made  us  all  outcasts  from  civilization." 

We  were  so  interested  in  relating  our  experiences 
to  Little  Compass  and  Ike  that  we  forgot  all  about 
the  gravel  and  gold  that  was  in  our  pockets ;  but 
when  we  did  think  of  it  and  showed  the  Jew,  he 
seemed  to  forget  where  he  was.  He  grabbed  at  it 
as  if  it  were  diamonds,  and  sure  enough,  gold  does 
have  an  appearance  equal  to  diamonds  when  it  is 
first  mined  and  brought  to  daylight;  but  after  it  is 
kept  in  your  pocket,  or  poke,  overnight,  it  loses  its 
glitter,  which  never  returns,  no  matter  what  process 
it  is  put  through.  It  is  a  well  known  saying 
among  miners,  when  someone  finds  a  big  nugget, 
"Oh,  we'll  look  at  it  in  the  morning,  when  it  has 
lost  its  glitter;  it  wont  look  nearly  so  large  then." 

The  glitter  of  the  gold  when  it  is  first  mined  is 
the  real  fascination  for  the  miner,  and  this  is  one 
of  the  reasons  he  will  pass  his  entire  life  seeking  it. 
It  lures  him  on,  and  buries  his  youth  into  old  age, 
and  from  there  into  a  grave  all  decked  with  gold. 
No  worms  will  bother  him  in  his  icy  sepulchre;  no 
one  will  strew  flowers  on  his  grave ;  but  early  In 
the  spring,  before  the  snow  leaves  the  ground,  there 


The  Iron  Mountain  135 

is  a  little  blue  flower  peeps  through  the  snow;  and 
each  month  through  the  summer,  a  new  wild  flower 
makes  its  appearance,  filled  with  an  odor  that  excels 
any  other  flowers  in  the  world.  Even  the  linnaeus, 
the  king  of  flowers,  grows  here. 

Nevertheless,  the  Jew  tried  to  make  a  deal  with 
us  to  buy  our  interest  in  the  discovery,  and  just  for 
a  joke  I  asked  him  if  he  remembered  that  we  were 
grub-staked,  and  that  one-half  of  all  we  found  would 
go  to  the  man  who  supplied  us  with  provisions. 

He  quickly  reminded  us  that  Donovan  was  dead, 
but  I  insisted,  "Now,  perhaps  he  is  lodged  in  the 
cave  somewhere  and  will  come  to  light.  He  may 
even  now  be  in  there  working  the  claim."  I  knew 
better,  for  no  creature  could  enter  the  cave  in  that 
torrent  of  water  and  remain  alive. 

While  Ike  was  not  so  jubilant  after  this,  yet  he 
still  felt  confident  that  he  had  found  his  fortune,  and 
declared  that  he  would  remain  there. 

That  night  we  pitched  our  tent,  although  it  was 
impossible  to  find  a  level  spot  the  size  of  a  tent. 
The  ground  was  entirely  covered  with  broken  rocks, 
too  firmly  imbedded  in  the  iron  ore  to  be  removed. 
So  we  pitched  our  tent  on  these  rough  chunks  of 
ore,    and     wrapping    blankets    around    us,    fitted 


136  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

ourselves  between  the  rocks  in  a  sitting  position,  as 
it  was  impossible  to  stretch  out  full  length,  and 
soon  fell  asleep. 

The  next  day,  Long  Bill,  the  Jew  and  I  decided 
to  tie  a  rope  to  each  other,  and  see  how  far  into  this 
cave  we  could  go.  Little  Compass,  not  caring  to 
stay  behind,  decided  to  go  with  us.  We  carefully 
tied  the  rope  around  our  waists,  so  if  one  fell  into 
the  water  the  rest  could  pull  him  out. 

On  we  started — climbing  from  one  boulder  to 
another,  and  clinging  to  the  overhanging  walls  cf 
the  cave,  with  the  rushing  river  close  at  our  feet; 
until  we  safely  reached  what  we  will  call  the  beach, 
for  such  it  seemed,  in  an  offset  from  the  main  cave. 

Upon  careful  examination,  this  room  proved  to 
be  formed  from  a  deposit  of  frozen  gravel,  the  only 
part  of  it  which  was  thawed  being  that  upon  which 
we  were  standing.  Now  and  then  a  boulder,  or 
small  piece  of  gravel  fell  from  the  roof  of  this 
room,  showing  it  to  be  gradually  thawing.  At  first 
we  did  not  understand  why  this  was. 

Presently  could  be  heard  a  sound  like  a  large 
coffee-pot  about  to  boil  over,  or  as  if  the  river  were 
emptying  into  a  great  fiery  hole,  causing  the  water 
to  boil  over  and   run  back.     Just  then  the  entire 


The  Iron  Mountain  137 

room  and  cave  filled  with  a  dense  steam,  and  we 
were  compelled  to  lie  down,  with  our  faces  nea'-  the 
ground,  in  order  to  breathe.  In  about  ten  miuutes 
it  had  cleared  away,  but  during  this  time  wc  had  a 
fresh  shower  of  gravel,  showing  that  the  steam 
caused  the  thawing. 

Our  first  thought  was  to  get  out,  but  we  stopped 
to  fill  our  pockets  with  the  gravel,  which  contained 
such  an  immense  amount  of  gold,  and  with  great 
effort  persuaded  Ike  to  return.  He  seemed  to 
value  the  gold  more  than  his  life. 

Upon  reaching  the  outside  in  safety,  we  emptied 
our  pockets  into  the  goldpan  and  started  to  pan  out 
the  gold,  as  was  the  custom  in  other  mining  sec- 
tions ;  but.  to  our  surprise,  most  of  the  gravel  stuck 
to  the  pan,  and  on  examining  it  closer  it  was  found 
to  be  iron,  magnetized.  This  mountain  was  so 
strongly  magnetized,  that  it  had  been  the  attrac- 
tion of  our  compass  for  many  months  past;  and 
now  we  were  puzzled  to  know  which  way  we  had 
been  traveling.  The  attraction  of  this  mountain 
was  so  strong  that  it  had  stopped  our  watches,  and 
pieces  of  this  ore  would  stick  to  our  knife  blades. 
We  thought  we  had  been  traveling  north;  but 
now,  having  learned  that  the   real  compass  could 


138  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

not  be  depended  upon,  where  we  were  was  more 
of  a  mystery  than  ever. 

We  continued  to  carefully  pick  the  gold  out  of 
the  pan,  since  it  was  useless  to  try  to  separate  it 
from  the  gravel  in  any  other  way ;  although  there 
were  a  few  pebbles  which  did  not  stick  to  the  pan. 
Upon  examination,  these  were  found  to  be  brown 
in  color,  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary  marble,  and 
to  weigh  the  same  as  gold ;  and  Bill  exclaimed : 

"  'Pon  my  word  if  this  isn't  the  same  kind  of  a 
stone  that  is  caught  in  the  riffles  of  the  sluice-boxes 
in  Dawson.  It  has  not  received  a  name,  no  assayer 
having  yet  been  able  to  analyze  it,  doncherknow." 

They  are  usually  kept  by  the  miners  as  pocket- 
pieces.  Not  more  than  one  hundred  had  been 
found  in  Alaska,  while  here  they  seemed  plentiful, 
showing  that  they  formerly  came  from  this  coun- 
try, and  had  probably  been  carried  to  Alaska  by  an 
active  glacier,  or  possibly  by  a  flood. 

During  our  stay  at  this  point,  the  fascination  of 
the  gold  again  lured  us  into  the  cave ;  and  altogether 
we  carried  out  two  coal-oil  cans  of  nuggets,  most  of 
which  we  were  compelled  to  leave  behind,  much  to 
the  regret  of  the  Jew,  who  was  really  anxious  to 
leave  a  portion  of  the  outfit  in  order  to  carry  the 


The  Iron  Mountain  139 

gold. 

The  following  morning,  Bill  and  I  tried  to  climb 
up  the  side  of  the  mountain,  hoping  to  see  where 
we  were ;  but  found  it  very  dangerous,  as  the  iron 
ore  would  peel  off,  break  and  fall  at  the  least  touch, 
and  we  were  never  sure  of  our  footing.  The  smoke 
of  the  volcano  could  be  seen  in  the  direction  we  had 
thought  was  north,  but  we  knew  it  could  not  be 
anywhere  near  civilization,  because  we  had  never 
heard  of  it. 

Our  first  thought  was  to  turn  back,  but  then  our 
boat  was  lost,  and  to  make  one  tight  enough  to  pass 
through  that  swamp  seemed  impossible,  as  there 
was  no  material  at  hand ;  besides,  there  were  memo- 
ries of  too  many  hardships,  and  we  all  agreed  to 
meet  death  there,  rather  than  to  undertake  to  return 
the  way  we  had  come. 


Northern  Lights 


CHAPTER  XII. 

NORTHERN   LIGHTS. 

Later,  we  decided  to  make  the  trip  around  the 
mountain,  and  pulling  camp,  succeeded  in  reaching 
the  opposite  side,  after  two  days'  hard  travel. 

Here  the  compass  swung  on  its  pivot,  still  point- 
ing directly  toward  the  mountain,  proving  to  us 
that  it  was  not  the  North  Pole  which  attracted  the 
needle  of  the  compass,  but  either  the  magnetized 
iron  mountain  which  we  had  discovered,  or  that  we 
had  passed  into  the  area  of  the  attraction  of  the 
compass ;  for,  according  to  a  theory  I  have  always 
maintained,  the  Xorth  Pole,  or  attraction  of  the 
compass,  covers  many  thousands  of  miles,  and  when 
once  inside  of  that  vast  area,  a  compass  is  no  longer 
true.  This  is  one  of  the  main  reasons  why  ex- 
plorers can  never  exactly  locate  the  north  pivot ;  for 
to  lose  the  usefulness  of  the  compass,  in  a  survey 
outfit,  is  to  lose  the  benefit  of  the  entire  outfit. 

Being  weary  from  the  trip,  we  prepared  our  shake- 


144  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

downs  for  the  night.  Just  as  we  were  about  to 
draw  our  blankets  over  our  heads  and  say  "good 
night,"  Minnie  exclaimed : 

"Look !  look !  look  at  the  Northern  Lights !" 

The  surrounding  country  was  lighted  for  miles 
and  miles,  and  plainly  in  the  sky  could  be  seen  an 
immense  lake,  with  a  city  on  both  shores,  although 
it  was  impossible  to  tell  in  which  direction  it  was 
located,  or  what  the  city  was. 

We  had  never  before  seen  buildings  like  these, 
not  even  in  pictures,  so  it  could  not  be  any  city 
known  to  us.  The  lake  was  beautiful,  surrounded 
as  it  was  by  trees  and  foliage.  We  talked  about 
this  until  late  at  night,  and  once  Minnie  said,  "I  have 
seen  that  city  before.  I  remember  it  well,  but 
cannot  remember  where  I  saw  it.  It  seems  to  me  like 
a  city  I  saw  once  in  a  dream.  I  have  often  had 
these  dreams  of  a  peculiar,  quaint  city,  with  kings 
and  princes  ;  something  like  a  fairy  story,  you  know  ; 
and  I  always  believed  that  some  day  my  dreams 
would  come  true.  Yes,  that's  the  city.  Now  I 
remember  it  well." 

In  this  manner  she  talked,  seemingly  to  herself, 
until  finally  she  fell  asleep. 

Early  the   following  morning,  we  could  see,  at 


Northern  Lights  145 

what  seemed  to  be  a  short  distance,  small  timber,  so 
with  renewed  energy  we  started  for  these  woods, 
reaching  there  after  nightfall.  It  was  so  dark  that 
we  could  not  see  to  pitch  camp.  Being  weary  and 
worn,  we  simply  huddled  together  like  a  flock  of 
motherless  chickens,  and  fell  asleep.  We  awoke  next 
morning  stiff  and  sore,  but  on  the  whole  very 
grateful  for  the  shelter  of  the  woods,  which  afforded 
us  an  opportunity  to  camp,  shoot  game  and  properly 
cook  our  food. 

As  it  was  getting  late  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  we 
decided  first  to  build  a  good  warm  cabin  to  winter 
in;  then  I  reminded  them  that  we  had  three  dogs, 
and  that  sleds  could  be  built  with  which  we  might 
travel  a  great  many  miles,  with  little  provisions.  So 
we  made  three  sleds,  and  prepared  to  start  on  our 
journey  with  the  first  snow.  Xot  knowing  which 
way  to  travel,  we  decided  to  continue  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  volcano,  as  the  smoke  could  be  seen  every 
now  and  then,  and  we  hoped  to  come  across  some 
settlement  of  Indians;  for  in  the  Yukon  country 
they  are  all  friendly  to  white  men,  never  having 
been  imposed  upon. 

The  snow  came  even  earlier  than  we  expected,  and 
was    so    deep    that    the    dogs    could    not    travel. 


146  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Compelled  to  wait  a  few  days,  during  the  interval  we 
made  snowshoes  and  moccasins  from  raw  furs, 
turning  the  hair  side  in  on  the  moccasins,  which 
made  them  very  warm  and  comfortable. 

At  this  stage  one  of  our  three  dogs  played  an  im- 
portant part,  presenting  us  with  eight  pups — again 
delaying  our  start  for  a  few  days.  But  we  took 
them  along,  not  having  the  heart  to  kill  them,  and 
while  rabbits  were  plentiful,  the  mother  dog  could 
support  herself  and  the  pups  with  little  effort,  the 
rabbits  being  very  tame  and  easily  caught. 

Finally  we  started,  traveling  ahead  of  the  dogs  on 
our  snowshoes  to  beat  down  a  trail,  for  the  snow 
was  about  three  feet  deep.  Long  Bill,  Ike  and  I 
had  ropes  around  our  shoulders,  helping  the  clogs 
to  pull.  The  dogs  were  harnessed  tandem  to  the 
sleds,  which  were  tied  together.  Our  Little  Com- 
pass, Minnie,  walked  behind  the  rear  sled,  doing  a 
large  share  of  the  work  by  guiding  and  keeping 
them  on  the  trail ;  for  if  a  heavily  loaded  one  slewed, 
it  usually  meant  an  upset,  and  a  hard  task  to  get  it 
righted  in  the  deep  snow. 

In  this  manner  we  made  about  ten  miles  a  day, 
for  walking  on  snowshoes,  pulling  a  load,  is  no  easy 
job.     At  night,  we  spread  the  blankets  and   furs 


Northern  Lights  147 

beneath  the  shelter  of  some  tree,  and  all  piled  in  just 
as  we  had  traveled  during  the  day,  pulling  fur  caps 
down  over  our  ears.  The  last  thing  we  would 
know  or  hear  would  be  Minnie's  cheerful,  "Good 
night,  boys,  and  pleasant  dreams ;"  and  very  often 
our  dreams  were  pleasant,  so  pleasant  that  when 
we  awakened  it  was  with  sorrow,  for  in  such  straits 
as  ours  dreams  were  more  pleasant  than  stern 
reality. 

We  passed  weary  days  and  cold  nights,  one  after 
another,  traveling  in  this  manner. 

Everything  was  frozen  now.  so  no  difficulty  was 
experienced  in  crossing  small  streams  and  rivers. 
Very  often  we  walked  on  the  top  crust  of  the  snow, 
at  which  time  our  snowshoes  could  be  discarded. 
At  last  we  came  to  a  lake  about  thirty  miles  wide. 


On  a  Frozen  Lake 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


ON  A  FROZEN  LAKE. 


After  traveling  about  five  miles  on  this  lake, 
Minnie  was  hitched  up  with  Bill  and  me  to  help  the 
dogs  pull  the  outfit,  Ike  holding  on  to  the  sled  and 
pushing.  He  had  become  snow-blind,  and  could  get 
along  better  by  holding  on  to  the  sled.  The  rest 
of  us  had  smeared  the  soot  from  the  bottom  of 
the  frying-pan  on  our  cheeks,  under  our  eyes,  which 
prevented  us  from  going  snow-blind,  but  the  Jew 
would  not  do  this  until  too  late.  In  this  condition 
we  resembled  a  band  of  comic  minstrels,  although 
little  Minnie  was  the  only  one  of  us  who  laughed. 
Her  cheerful  disposition  had  no  equal. 

We  made  half  the  distance  across  the  lake  the  first 
day,  there  being  but  little  snow  on  the  ice,  although 
we  were  now  facing  a  terrible  wind,  so  strong  that 
it  required  a  great  effort  to  keep  from  being  blown 
back. 

Just  ahead  of  us  we  saw  what  appeared  to  be  a 

151 


152  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

ridge,  or  rise,  in  the  ice,  which  proved  to  be  about 
ten  feet  high.  It  was  getting  late,  and  the  dogs 
seemed  to  know  and  understand  that  we  were  in  a 
dangerous  place  in  the  middle  of  a  lake,  with  a  wind 
ahead  of  us.  They  crouched  close  to  the  ice,  and 
with  a  pitiful  whine,  threw  their  shoulders  tight  in 
the  collar,  and  made  long  scratches  on  the  ice  with 
their  claws,  as  they  worked  hard  with  us ;  and  at 
last  we  reached  this  bluff  of  ice,  which  turned  out 
to  be  a  crack  in  the  lake. 

When  a  lake  freezes  entirely  over,  the  expansion 
causes  the  ice  to  crack,  and  each  side  of  the  crack 
lifts  up,  but  instead  of  that  being  an  obstacle  to  us, 
I  believe  to  this  day  that  it  saved  our  lives,  for  with 
an  axe  we  chopped  a  dug-out  in  the  wall  of  ice,  and 
crawled  in.  For  three  days,  from  our  shelter,  we 
watched  the  most  terrific  storm  and  blizzard  ever 
witnessed  by  any  of  us. 

There  were  four  people  and  three  dogs,  together 
with  the  pups,  in  this  small  space.  There  was  no 
chance  to  get  cold,  neither  was  there  any  opportunity 
to  cook ;  but  we  were  somewhat  prepared  for  such 
an  emergency,  by  always  having  cooked  from  three 
to  four  days'  provisions  before  starting  on  a  trip. 
in  case  our  next  stopping-place  proved  inconvenient. 


On  a  Frozen  Lake  153 

In  this  country  it  wasn't  like  traveling  near 
Dawson  on  the  trail,  where  the  last  traveler  leaves 
wood  and  kindling  prepared  for  the  next  traveler, 
who  will  pass  that  way.  All  over  the  Yukon  country, 
it  is  easy  to  find  a  camping  place  where  some  pros- 
pector has  camped  before  you.  He  will  always  leave 
a  can  of  water,  some  kindling,  and  dry  pieces  of 
wood  ready  to  touch  a  match  to,  for  the  next  passer 
that  way ;  and  then  they  call  it  an  uncivilized 
country.  It  is  very  seldom  that  a  man  in  a  civilized 
country  will  prepare  a  camp  or  home  for  a  stranger 

In  preparing  our  food  for  a  trip,  we  boiled  beans 
and  put  them  out  on  the  snow  in  a  frying  or  baking 
pan,  left  them  for  a  few  minutes,  by  which  time 
they  were  frozen.  Striking  the  bottom  of  the  pan, 
the  beans  were  knocked  out  and  broken  into  chunks. 
As  soon  as  one  panful  had  been  frozen  and  broken 
up,  we  put  it  into  a  flour  sack  and  repeated  the  oper- 
ation, until  the  sack  was  full.  Then,  when  we 
wanted  cooked  beans,  all  that  was  necessary  was  to 
reach  into  the  flour  sack,  take  out  a  few  pieces  of 
frozen  beans  (which  resemble  peanut  candy),  and 
put  them  in  the  frying-pan.  Throwing  in  a  little 
snow  to  take  the  place  of  water,  we  set  them  on  the 
campfire,  and  in  a  few  minutes  had  a  panful  of  nice 


154  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

cooked  beans,  which  we  nicknamed  "Alaska  straw- 
berries." 

The  same  method  was  used  for  pea-soup  or  dried 
apricots.  This  time,  however,  we  were  compelled 
to  eat  the  beans  frozen,  not  having  the  opportunity 
to  make  a  fire. 

We  had  plenty  of  canned  corned-beef  and  horse 
meat.  It  was  very  hard  to  tell  one  from  the  other, 
the  only  distinguishing  mark  being  the  paper  labels 
on  the  beef,  for  there  were  none  on  the  canned 
horse.  When  the  labels  on  the  beef  got  wet  and 
came  off,  we  called  it  horse ;  because  this  meat, 
brought  for  the  dogs,  was  in  the  same  kind  of  cans, 
from  the  same  American  packing-house,  looked  and 
tasted  the  same  when  the  can  was  open ;  so  we 
decided  it  was  all  horse — but  nevertheless,  it 
was  good. 

The  only  way  to  quench  our  thirst  was  to  melt 
snow  in  our  mouths,  or  eat  ice,  and  Bill  would 
remark,  "I  say,  isn't  it  a  blessing  to  have  ice  to  allay 
our  thirst,  for  jolly  well  I  remember  when  our  regi- 
ment was  crossing  the  desert  in  South  Africa,  ten 
men  died  for  want  of  water." 

So,  miserable  as  we  were  in  that  dugout,  as  Bill 
often  said,  we  were  warm,  dry  and  comfortable, 


On  a  Frozen  Lake  155 

and  could  find  something  for  which  to  be  thankful. 

The  third  day  the  storm  cleared  away  and  we 
made  preparations  to  leave  camp,  but  in  looking  out 
we  found  the  incline  too  steep  to  get  over.  By 
cutting  steps  in  the  ice,  we  reached  the  top,  where 
we  found  an  opening  too  wide  to  jump  across,  so  we 
lashed  our  three  sleds  together,  making  a  bridge. 
By  this  means,  with  a  rope  tied  to  our  bodies  in  case 
of  accident,  we  carried  our  provisions  and  outfit 
across.  After  several  hours  of  hard  work,  we 
managed  to  get  on  the  other  side  of  the  crack 
in  the  ice. 

At  once  I  slid  down  the  incline,  and  found 
myself  standing  in  three  or  four  inches  of  water, 
which  had  overflowed  for  about  fifty  feet.  The  snow 
had  covered  it  so  that  at  first  the  water  could  not  be 
noticed.  They  lowered  the  sleds  and  outfit  to  me, 
which  I  took  across  to  hard  ice.  Then  Bill  held 
the  dogs  on  the  last  sled  and  I  hauled  them  across 
the  water.  I  saw  there  was  no  time  to  waste,  for 
by  this  time  the  water  was  rising  fast.  Hurrying 
back  for  Minnie  and  the  Jew,  I  took  them  across 
on  the  sled.  By  doing  this  no  one  had  wet  feet 
but  me. 

Soon  our  packs  were  lashed  to  the  sleds  and  we 


156  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

started  for  the  other  shore,  which  could  be  seen  in 
the  distance,  and  we  knew  it  must  be  reached  before 
stopping  for  the  night,  as  we  would  perish  if  we 
remained  on  the  lake  without  shelter. 

Presently  my  feet  became  so  cold  and  numb  from 
being  wet  that  I  could  hardly  walk.  Finally,  after  a 
great  deal  of  urging  from  Minnie  and  Long  Bill, 
I  climbed  on  the  top  of  the  load  to  ride.  For  the 
first  time  on  the  trip  I  shed  a  few  tears,  for  1 
realized  that  my  feet  were  freezing  and  that  I  would 
be  a  helpless  creature,  and  it  would  be  far  better 
to  have  met  death  than  to  be  left  in  this  plight. 

Just  then  I  heard  one  of  the  pups  howling  in  the 
box  which  was  lashed  on  top  of  the  load,  and  in 
my  irritable  condition,  caused  by  suffering  and  pain, 
I  wondered  why  we  were  so  foolish  as  to  pull  a 
box  of  pups  that  would  never  be  of  any  use  to  us. 
Suddenly  a  new  thought  came  to  me,  and  I  put  both 
feet  in  the  box  with  the  pups.  At  first  they  shunned 
my  feet,  but  soon  nestled  down,  and  I  could  feel 
the  warmth  of  their  little  bodies  penetrating  through 
my  wet  moccasins.  It  was  then  that  I  knew  why 
we  had  brought  the  pups.  How  grateful  I  felt 
towards  them,  for  they  had  saved  my  feet.  As  it 
was,   I  afterwards  lost  my  toenails,  and  the  skin 


On  a  Frozen  Lake  157 

peeled  off  my  feet. 

In  less  than  twenty  minutes  I  was  off  the  sled 
again,  with  my  feet  warm,  pulling  with  the  rest  of 
them. 

We  crossed  the  lake  with  no  further  difficulty, 
and  to  our  joy  and  delight  the  opposite  shore  was 
covered  with  thick  timber,  where  we  camped  for 
three  days.  Here  we  pitched  our  six  by  eight 
sleeping  tent,  which  we  were  not  able  to  use  except  in 
the  woods,  for  if  it  should  once  get  wet  and  covered 
with  ice  we  could  not  fold  it  to  take  with  us. 


Encounter  with  a  Wolverine 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

ENCOUNTER    WITH    A    WOLVERINE. 

All  felt  happier  now,  even  the  dogs,  excepting 
our  third  dog,  which  was  a  white,  short-haired  bull- 
dog, remarkable  for  his  strength.  He  was  all  right 
while  working,  but  he  would  set  up  a  howl  from  the 
cold  as  soon  as  we  stopped,  which  started  the  others. 
We  would  put  an  old  fur  over  his  back  and  light  a 
candle,  sticking  it  in  the  snow  in  front  of  him ;  this 
he  would  mistake  for  a  fire,  and  could  be  kept  quiet 
until  our  fire  was  started.  I  usually  had  to  blow  out 
the  candle  in  order  to  get  him  to  change  his  posi- 
tion and  come  to  the  real  fire. 

This  bull-dog  caused  a  great  deal  of  merriment 
and  laughter  in  our  party.  He  had  a  small  crooked 
tail,  which  froze  off  an  inch  at  a  time,  keeping  it 
constantly  sore ;  but  he  was  bound  to  sit  down  on  it, 
which  of  course  hurt  him  very  much,  and  kept  him 
in  a  bad  humor.  He  imagined  either  we,  or  the 
dogs,  were  hurting  him.     It  took  every  effort  to  keep 


162  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

him  from  fighting  Stub,  our  leader. 

We  had  spent  half  an  hour  thawing  snow  for 
water  to  make  tea,  when  at  this  time  the  bull-dog 
saw  an  opportunity,  and  seizing  Stub  by  the  throat 
he  hung  on  with  a  vengeance.  We  tried  to  choke 
him  off,  but  could  not ;  then  pinched  his  sore  tail, 
but  with  no  results.  Seeing  that  something  had  to 
be  done,  and  done  quickly  or  we  would  lose  our 
faithful  leader,  I  seized  the  much-prized  hot  water 
and  let  the  bull-dog  have  it  in  the  face.  It  brought 
him  to,  and  he  let  go.  Poor  Stub's  neck  was  very 
sore,  but  he  managed  to  get  in  his  work,  for  he  left 
the  bull-dog  on  three  legs. 

After  the  dogs  had  had  their  supper,  which  con- 
sisted of  corn-meal  mush,  flavored  with  spoiled 
bacon,  they  settled  themselves  for  the  night,  while 
we  crawled  into  our  little  tent,  where  we  had  made 
a  brush  bed,  and  I  drew  my  combination  rifle  and 
shot-gun  close  by  me. 

So  we  laid  down  to  sleep,  and  there  was  one  thing 
that  I  will  give  that  country  credit  for:  it  never 
causes  people  to  spend  sleepless  nights.  I  was  soon 
dreaming  that  we  were  carrying  the  oil-cans  full 
of  nuggets  down  Broadway  in  New  York,  hunting 
a  place  to  sell  them,  when  suddenly  a  slight  noise 


Encounter  with  a  Wolverine  163 

awakened  me.  There  was  a  full  moon  and  as  I 
looked  down  at  my  feet,  I  saw  a  sight  that  I  never 
will  forget:  the  head  of  a  wolverine,  the  most  dan- 
gerous animal  in  all  of  Alaska.  He  was  licking 
out  the  frying-pan,  where  we  had  warmed  up  some 
canned  horse. 

A  wolverine  is  an  animal  that  will  fight  when  he 
is  frightened,  instead  of  running,  and  I  knew  better 
than  to  move  or  make  any  sound.  My  first  thought 
was  my  gun,  but  how  to  get  action  on  a  desperate 
animal  like  that  at  so  close  a  range  I  could  not  at 
first  decide.  However,  moving  my  hand  as  slowly  as 
I  could  without  making  a  bit  of  sound,  I  carefully 
lifted  the  gun,  until  it  rested  on  my  toes.  The 
wolverine  was  within  twenty  inches  of  our  feet, 
and  when  I  got  range  on  him  I  let  go  both  barrels, 
and  I  sure  got  my  game. 

The  report  of  the  gun  frightened  Long  Bill  so 
that  he  stood  erect,  with  such  force  that  he  lifted 
the  tent  from  us  bodily,  he  being  much  taller  than 
the  tent. 

"Blow  me,"  he  said,  "but  that's  shocking,  doncher- 
know.     Drot  it,  what  did  you  do  that  for?" 

"Oh,"  I  replied,  "I  was  shooting  a  little  game  for 
breakfast." 


164  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

"Blast  it,  Professor,  take  the  bloomin'  tent  off  my 
head.     I  can't  see  a  thing,  doncherknow." 

"My  word,"  continued  Bill,  "but  can't  a  chap 
dream  fast?  I  thought  I  was  in  South  Africa 
fighting  Kaffirs,  and  that  one  had  just  shot  me  with  a 
cannon." 

After  the  excitement  was  over,  we  settled  down 
and  were  soon  peacefully  sleeping  again.  The  next 
morning  we  skinned  the  wolverine,  and  the  dogs 
had  a  much  needed  feast. 

A  wolverine  is  an  animal  between  a  wolf  and  a 
bear;  its  front  paws  and  head  are  the  same  as  a 
bear ;  its  hind  feet  are  like  a  wolf's ;  its  bushy  tail 
and  marked  back  like  an  ant-eater's.  The  skin  was 
a  great  addition  to  our  supply  of  furs. 

On  the  fourth  morning  we  packed  again  and 
started  on.  After  the  three  days'  rest  and  feast  we 
were  like  new,  for  life  out-of-doors  gives  one  plenty 
of  appetite  and  muscle,  and  we  had  been  next  to 
nature  so  long  that  each  day  we  were  prepared  for 
the  worst.  Long  Bill  used  to  say,  "Never  mind 
today,  Professor,  it  will  be  worse  tomorrow." 


The  Great  Glacier 


163 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  GREAT  GLACIER. 

So  on  and  on  we  went  through  solid  woods  for 
two  weeks,  until  we  came  to  another  lake  about  five 
miles  wide,  on  the  other  side  of  which  there  seemed 
to  be  a  very  high  mountain.  It  looked  like  a  glacier, 
which  we  afterwards  found  it  to  be.  It  seemed 
impossible  to  pass  over  this  glacier,  so  at  first  we 
decided  to  remain  in  the  woods  until  we  died ;  but 
Little  Compass  encouraged  us  to  keep  on,  with  the 
assurance  that  there  was  a  bright  future  ahead. 
To  remain  was  sure  death  from  starvation,  but  to 
press  on,  there  was  a  possibility  and  hope ;  and  it 
required  only  a  few  words  of  encouragement  to 
start  us  on  again. 

There  was  no  snow  on  this  lake,  and  it  was  easy 
traveling  on  the  ice.  After  crossing  the  lake,  we 
found  a  solid  wall  of  ice  about  twenty-five  feet  high, 
as  if  the  glacier  had  traveled  into  the  lake,  and 
broken  off  square.     The  face  of  this  glacier  was 


168  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

different  from  anything  I  had  ever  seen,  for  it  abso- 
lutely was  formed  in  layers,  about  one-half  inch 
thick.  Between  each  layer  there  was  a  streak  of 
black,  resembling  soot. 

Try  as  we  might,  we  could  find  no  place  to  get 
on  the  glacier,  so  as  to  continue  our  course  toward 
the  volcano.  We  still  had  some  hope  of  finding  a 
settlement  of  Indians,  or  some  trapper  who  could 
direct  us  on  our  course ;  besides,  our  Little  Compass 
still  urged  us  to  keep  on  in  the  direction  of  the  vol- 
cano, saying  that  when  we  reached  it.  which  she 
felt  sure  we  would,  our  hardships  would  be  at  an 
end. 

"Minnie,  why  do  you  feel  so  positive  that  the 
direction  we  are  taking  is  the  right  one?"  I  asked. 

With  her  sweet,  winning  smile,  she  answered 
with  that  ever-famous  woman's  reason,  "Because." 

At  last  we  decided  to  cut  a  sloping  tunnel  into  the 
side  of  the  glacier,  with  our  axes,  hoping  to  reach 
the  top ;  and  as  we  cut  our  way  through  this  ice,  the 
entire  formation  was  found  to  be  in  layers. 

It  took  us  day  and  night  for  three  days  to  reach 
the  top,  and  we  used  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel  for 
shelter  during  this  time.  At  times  we  wondered  if 
we  were  trying  to  get  on  the  glacier,  or  simply 


The  Great  Glacier  169 

rinding  something  to  do  to  keep  from  going  mad. 

As  we  were  struggling  our  way  through  this  ice, 
I  felt  like  a  prisoner  fighting  for  freedom ;  and 
with  new  vigor  and  energy  would  sink  my  axe  into 
the  ice  and  bring  out  larger  chunks  than  ever,  until 
great  drops  of  sweat  would  stand  on  my  brow, 
despite  my  being  in  an  ice  cave. 

Finally  it  came  my  turn  to  rest,  Long  Bill  taking 
my  shift  at  the  axe.  As  I  was  losing  myself  in 
sleep,  like  distant  chimes  the  blows  from  the  axe 
seemed  farther  and  farther  and  farther  away,  as  if 
it  were  all  a  dream.  At  last  I  knew  no  more, 
falling  into  a  deep  sleep  from  exhaustion. 

Once  or  twice  during  the  night  I  awoke,  and  could 
not  remember  where  I  was,  until  I  recognized  the 
sound  of  chopping  ice;  for  it  seemed  as  if  Bill 
never  tired,  as  he  struck  one  blow  after  another. 
Finally,  early  on  the  fourth  morning,  I  heard  him 
tugging  at  something. 

"Bill,  what's  the  matter  now?"  I  asked. 

"I've  lost  my  bloomin'  axe  through  the  hole. 
Blast  me  if  I  don't  believe  I've  struck  top  instead 
of  bottom." 

Climbing  up,  I  found  that  Bill  was  right ;  he  had 
really  struck  daylight,  and  lost  his  axe  through  the 


170  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

opening. 

After  breakfast,  we  all  went  up  the  sloping  tunnel, 
and  clambering  through  the  opening,  stood  on 
top  of  the  glacier,  gazing  back  across  the  lake. 
Looking  in  the  opposite  direction  toward  the  vol- 
cano, our  hopes  sank,  for  the  glacier  seemed  to  slope 
upward,  preventing  our  seeing  any  great  distance. 
No  smoke  was  visible,  making  it  impossible  for  us 
to  locate  the  volcano,  or  to  determine  the  direction 
in  which  it  lay. 

At  this  Ike  actually  laid  clown  and  refused  to  go 
farther,  and  cried  and  prayed  that  we  might  return 
to  the  opposite  side  of  the  lake.  I  asked  him,  "To 
whom  are  you  praying?  To  Father  Moses?"  And 
to  aggravate  him  so  as  to  work  up  his  fighting 
blood,  I  declared  that  Moses  was  not  a  Jew,  and 
was  not  the  son  of  the  servant  of  Pharaoh's  daugh- 
ter; but  was  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter,  who 
was  an  Egyptian ;  that  it  had  simply  been  policy 
to  blame  the  servant.  This  fairly  made  him  boil 
with  rage,  and  forget  his  fear. 

Then  Long  Bill  stood  erect  and  related  the  story 
of  Napoleon  crossing  the  Alps:  how  his  soldiers 
faltered,  fell  and  clung  to  his  garments,  pleading 
with   him   to   return;  how,   heeding  them  not,   he 


The  Great  Glacier  171 

pressed  on  to  victory  and  did  the  things  which 
seemed  to  the  world  impossible ;  and  to  this  day, 
Napoleon  ranks  highest  in  accomplishment. 

Bill  stood  there  in  the  real  attitude  of  Napoleon, 
though  instead  of  being  garbed  in  the  uniform  of  a 
soldier,  he  was  draped  in  an  old  red  blanket,  like  an 
Indian  chief,  and  as  he  repeated  this  story  we  forgot 
the  cold.  Our  hearts  filled  with  the  determination 
to  press  on,  even  if  it  lead  to  death,  for  we  expected 
to  die  anyway,  so  why  not  die  trying  to  live,  even 
in  the  face  of  death? 

Nevertheless,  the  Jew  did  not  appreciate  senti- 
ment, and  still  timidly  suggested  a  return  to  the 
woods;  however,  we  told  him  if  he  went  he  would 
go  alone,  so  he  decided  to  follow  us. 

Just  then  Minnie  exclaimed,  "Look,  look,  there 
is  the  smoke  now !"  and  sure  enough,  great  rolls  and 
clouds  of  smoke  raised  toward  the  heavens,  settling 
again  out  of  sight  behind  the  summit  of  the  glacier. 

I  grasped  my  compass  and  marked  the  course, 
for  fear  we  could  not  see  smoke  often  enough  to 
keep  in  the  right  direction,  although  I  realized  the 
compass  was  not  true,  as  it  would  continue  to  point 
towards  the  magnetized  iron  mountain  which  we 
had  passed.     Regardless  of  this,  I  could  mark  my 


172  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

course.  So  we  packed  our  outfits  ready  to  travel 
again,  knowing  there  was  a  long,  hard  trip  before 
us,  which  perhaps  would  be  our  last,  but  Long  Bill 
said, 

"Cheer  up,  while  there's  life  there's  hope,"  one 
of  his  favorite  sayings,  and  little  Minnie  added, 
"While  I  am  guardian  and  'Compass'  no  harm 
will  come  to  us."  Although  I  thought  that  down 
deep  in  her  heart  she  had  but  little  hope ;  for  I  knew 
I  had  none,  but  did  not  speak  of  it  to  the  others, 
for  fear  of  discouraging  them. 


The  Fatal  Crevice 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE    FATAL    CREVICE. 


Anticipating  the  tedious  trip  across  the  glacier, 
we  prepared — as  we  supposed — a  generous  supply 
of  meat.  A  caribou,  shot  in  the  woods  before  cross- 
ing the  lake, seemed  sufficient  meat  for  ourselves  and 
the  dogs. 

Fastening  on  our  creepers,  a  kind  of  spiked  sole 
for  walking  on  ice,  we  started  on  a  trip  that  we 
might  never  finish.  At  night,  we  would  put  down 
the  robes  and  blankets  and  pile  in,  not  knowing 
whether  we  would  ever  awake  again.  The  glacier 
was  constantly  moving,  causing  a  continual  roaring 
and  crackling  of  the  ice. 

On  the  fourth  day  after  we  had  started,  there  was 
a  heavy  snow,  which  made  our  traveling  very  diffi- 
cult ;  for  there  were  very  often  deep  crevices  in  the 
ice,  calling  for  much  watchfulness  and  care. 

Reaching  what  proved  to  be  the  widest  crevice 
on  the  glacier,  about  six  feet  across,  we  decided  to 

175 


176  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

lash  our  sleds  together  and  make  a  bridge,  just  as 
we  had  done  on  the  lake ;  but  Ike  said  this  was 
nonsense  and  declared  he  could  jump  it.  Just  as  we 
were  about  to  complete  our  bridge,  to  our  surprise 
and  horror  he  made  a  leap ;  but  fell  short  of  the 
other  side,  and  disappeared  in  the  crevice.  Down 
and  down  he  went  out  of  sight.  We  could  hear  his 
mournful  groans,  but  could  not  see  him.  Minnie 
wrung  her  hands,  and  Bill  exclaimed,  "My  word, 
Professor,  what  will  we  do?" 

I  volunteered  to  be  lowered  into  the  crevice, 
although  Bill  and  Minnie  both  declared  it  wa<= 
useless,  and  tried  to  persuade  me  not  to  go.  But  in 
my  excitement  I  insisted ;  so,  tying  together  all  the 
ropes  we  had  left,  making  in  all  about  sixty  feet, 
we  made  fast  one  end  to  our  bridge,  and  the  other 
end  of  the  rope  was  tied  around  my  waist.  Bill  and 
Minnie  lowered  me  about  forty  feet  into  the 
crevice,  to  see  if  I  could  rescue  Ike — and  never  in  my 
life  did  I  endure  such  suffering  from  the  bitter  cold. 

Not  only  this,  but  when  I  was  lowered  to  the 
fullest  possible  length,  I  saw  a  sight  that  curdled 
the  blood  in  my  veins.  Far  beneath  me  was  our 
companion,  wedged  so  tightly  in  the  ice  that  it  would 
have  been  utterly  impossible  to  have  helped  him  out, 


The  Fatal  Crevice  177 

even  if  I  could  have  reached  him.  As  it  was,  I  was 
only  half  way  to  him;  more  than  that,  the  action 
of  the  glacier  was  closing  the  crevice,  and  realizing 
my  own  danger,  I  shouted, 

"Hoist  me  quick,  or  it  will  be  too  late !" 

Then  I  called  again  to  poor  Ike,  but  received  no 
answer,  only  hearing  a  faint  groan,  which  told  me 
that  nothing  could  be  done  for  him ;  and  my  only 
thought  was  that  he  might  freeze  before  he  was 
crushed  to  death,  in  that  way  being  spared  further 
suffering. 

As  they  were  pulling  me  to  the  top,  suddenly 
there  was  a  slip,  and  the  rope  seemed  to  give  way. 
Oh,  the  horror  of  it !  To  feel  myself  falling  and  to 
know  that  mine  was  to  be  the  same  fate  as  my 
companion's  below  !  Then,  no  sooner  had  I  given 
up  my  hope  of  life,  than  the  rope,  with  a  jerk,  be- 
came tight.  It  was  then  I  remembered  that  I  had 
made  the  rope  fast  to  the  sleds  across  the  crevice, 
but  could  it  be  possible  that  they  did  not  have  the 
strength  to  pull  me  out?  I  knew  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  me  to  climb  the  rope,  as  my  hands  and 
arms  were  numb  with  cold. 

There  was  nothing  left  for  me  but  to  dangle  at 
the  end  of  this  rope,  until  the  crack  in  the  glacier 


178  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

had  closed  and  crushed  my  bones  in  an  icy  grave ; 
or  perhaps  I  would  freeze  before  this  would  happen 
— or  would  I  bring  it  all  to  a  sudden  end?  I 
clutched  for  my  belt-axe,  to  cut  the  rope  and  let 
my  body  drop  into  the  depths  below,  for  what  was 
the  use  of  struggling  when  life  would  be  so  short 
anyway?  But  I  found  the  axe  fast  between  the 
rope  and  my  body,  and  could  not  get  it. 

I  exclaimed  aloud,  "Fate  is  against  me,  I  must 
suffer!"  when  just  then  I  heard  Bill's  voice  as 
though  far,  far  away,  for  I  was  becoming  numb 
with  cold,  and  was  beginning  to  be  drowsy : 

"Keep  up  your  courage,  old  chap,  and  we'll  soon 
have  you  out !" 

After  what  seemed  hours  to  me,  in  my  frozen 
condition,  but  in  reality  was  only  a  few  moments, 
the  rope  began  to  move  upward,  and  at  last  I  was 
landed  on  the  top  of  the  glacier;  where  Bill  and 
Minnie  put  blankets  around  me,  and  pounded  and 
rolled  me  for  nearly  half  an  hour,  before  there  was 
sufficient  circulation  of  blood  in  my  body  to  enable 
me  to  stand.  When  I  was  able  to  stand  on  my  feet, 
Bill  and  Minnie  hugged  me  and  kissed  my  bearded 
face.  Then  I  was  glad  that  I  lived,  for  I  saw  that 
both  depended  upon  me. 


The  Fatal  Crevice  179 

As  soon  as  I  was  able  to  speak,  I  asked,  "What 
happened  to  the  rope.  Bill?" 

But  it  was  little  Minnie  who  answered,  "It  was 
my  fault.  One  of  my  creepers  slipped  off,  causing 
me  to  fall ;  and  if  I  had  not  brought  up  against  Bill's 
foot,  solidly  planted  on  the  ice,  I  would  have  joined 
you  in  the  crevice  below." 

"Yes,"  continued  Bill,  "and  no  telling  what 
would  have  happened  if  the  rope  had  not  been  tied 
to  the  sleds  and  put  across  the  crevice,  for  when 
Minnie  lost  her  grip,  blow  me  if  I  was  able  to  hold 
it  alone  with  my  mitts  on.  We  both  pulled  off  our 
bloomin'  mitts  at  once,  and  took  hold  of  the  frozen 
rope  with  our  bare  hands,  and — here  you  are." 

Dear  little  Minnie !  When  I  looked  at  her  pale 
face  and  bleeding  hands,  I  began  to  realize  what 
she  had  passed  through.  Although  she  smiled  at 
me  brightly,  at  the  same  time  a  tear  trickled  down 
her  cheek,  which  made  me  think  that  after  all  she 
had  not  lost  her  love  for  me. 

It  was  getting  late.  Being  worn  out,  we  decided 
to  rest  there  for  the  night ;  so,  after  crossing  the 
crevice,  which  by  this  time  had  almost  closed,  we 
fed  the  dogs  and  swallowed  what  food  we  could, 
and  camped  for  the  night. 


180  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

At  dawn,  which  at  that  season  was  ten  o'clock, 
we  were  astir,  and  after  eating  breakfast,  started 
on ;  but  not  without  a  sad  thought  for  our  lost  com- 
panion, Long  Bill  remarking, 

"  Ton  my  word,  I  suppose  we'll  all  go  that  way, 
one  by  one,  doncherknow." 

"Yes,  Bill,  we  all  expect  to  die ;  but  after  all,  the 
greatest  surprise  in  a  man's  life  is  when  death 
overtakes  him." 

We  knew  not  what  fate  held  in  store  for  us ; 
but  kept  pushing  on,  expecting  each  night  to  freeze 
to  death.  Before  we  fell  asleep,  we  bade  each  other 
goodbye  instead  of  goodnight ;  for  as  we  advanced 
farther  on  the  glacier,  it  grew  colder.  But  it  is  far 
pleasanter  to  freeze  than  to  starve  or  drown ;  and 
our  only  wonder  was,  which  one  of  us  would  be  the 
first  to  go. 

We  had  long  since  given  up  all  hope  of  life,  and 
it  made  but  little  difference  whether  death  came 
today  or  tomorrow ;  but  in  spite  of  this,  we  tied  a 
rope  to  each  other  as  we  traveled,  so  that  we  at  least 
would  escape  the  fate  of  the  Jew. 


Crossing  the  Glacier 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CROSSING    THE    GLACIER. 

On  and  on  we  went.  One  night  as  we  were  trying 
to  sleep,  wrapped  in  our  blankets  and  fur  robes, 
with  the  dogs  huddled  under  the  sleds,  hour  after 
hour  I  could  hear  little  Minnie  groan  and  shake  and 
chatter  with  the  cold,  for  that  night  it  must  have 
been  seventy  below  zero. 

At  last  Minnie  said,  "I  cannot  live.  I  am  slowly 
freezing  to  death.  If  such  a  thing  should  happen 
that  you  ever  get  word  to  my  brother,  tell  him  I 
died  happy,  although  my  body  was  very  miserable ; 
and  continue  in  the  direction  of  the  volcano,  for  in 
my  heart  something  tells  me  that  this  is  the  right 
course." 

Her  courageous  words,  while  at  the  point  of  death, 
filled  me  with  despair,  for  to  lose  my  Little  Com- 
pass, the  joy  and  sunshine,  the  only  ray  of  hope  left 
in  my  life,  seemed  more  than  I  could  bear. 

Necessity  sharpened  my  wits,  however,  and  I  said, 


184  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

"You  shall  not  freeze !" 

So  I  worked  my  hand  from  beneath  the  blankets 
and  reached  under  the  sled,  where  I  knew  my  ever- 
faithful  leader  dog  lay.  He  was  a  long-haired, 
mixed  spaniel  and  collie.  I  forced  him  out  from 
under  the  sled,  and  although  he  knew  whose  hand 
it  was,  he  nibbled  on  me  hard  enough  to  bring  the 
blood;  because  even  the  dog  realized  the  danger  of 
being  taken  from  the  little  shelter  he  had.  I  pulled 
him  down  in  the  robes  and  held  him  there ;  in  a 
short  time  our  bed  was  comfortably  warm,  for  in 
a  cold  climate  there  is  no  warmth  like  the  heat  of  a 
dog's  body. 

Little  Minnie  never  ceased  praising  and  loving 
that  dog,  often  remarking  that  she  owed  her  life 
to  her  faithful  Stub,  and  thereafter  she  bestowed  all 
her  affections  on  the  dog.  Again  I  could  see  that 
the  hardships  through  which  she  was  passing  day 
by  day  were  killing  all  the  love  she  had,  or  might 
have  had,  for  me.  However,  it  made  but  little 
difference  now,  for  I  was  sure  that  we  would  all 
die  on  that  glacier. 

At  this  time  of  the  year  the  days  in  that  country 
were  very  short,  and  it  became  quite  dark  at  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.     For  that  reason  we  could 


Crossing  the  Glacier  185 

travel  no  great  distance  in  a  day.  An  occasional 
gust  of  smoke  from  the  volcano  kept  us  on  the  right 
course,  and  was  our  only  ray  of  hope. 

We  had  now  been  on  the  glacier  about  seven  days, 
and  our  provisions  were  running  low,  for  the  pups 
were  eating  almost  as  much  as  an  ordinary  dog.  As 
they  had  proven  of  so  much  value  in  saving  my 
feet  from  freezing  I  would  not  kill  them.  Besides 
this,  since  we  had  learned  how  much  warmth  they 
could  furnish,  we  put  them  in  our  bunks  at  night. 

We  often  wondered  why  we  were  trying  to  live, 
when  seemingly  there  was  no  hope  before  us,  except 
the  smoke  of  the  volcano,  which  could  be  seen  more 
plainly  every  day. 

On  looking  over  our  food  supply,  we  found  barely 
enough  to  last  three  days.  Already  we  had  skimped 
ourselves  and  the  dogs. 

That  day  a  flock  of  wild  geese  flew  directly  over 
us.  Long  Bill  grabbed  the  gun  and  shot  both  barrels, 
never  dreaming  he  could  reach  them  (they 
were  very  high),  but  to  our  surprise  the  rifle  bullet 
did  get  one  of  them,  and  it  fell  close  by  us.  We 
had  no  fire  or  opportunity  to  cook  it,  so  you  can 
imagine  our  hungry  condition  when  we  absolutely 
ate  that  goose  raw.     Upon  opening  it,  we  found 


186  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

grains  of  wheat  in  the  craw  as  large  as  grains  of 
corn.  Now  we  were  sure  this  flock  of  geese  came 
from  the  direction  of  the  volcano,  and  it  seemed 
hardly  possible  that  wheat  grew  in  other  than  a 
civilized  country.  And  where  could  wheat  that  size 
grow  if  not  in  a  very  warm  climate?  The  grain 
was  but  slightly  swollen,  and  could  not  have  been 
eaten  by  the  goose  more  than  an  hour  before. 

At  once  new  hope  arose  in  our  hearts,  and  we 
harnessed  up  our  dogs  and  "mushed"  on.  We  were 
in  that  state  where  we  seemed  to  be  grasping  for 
life ;  for,  like  a  drowning  man  clutching  at  a  straw, 
we  grasped  at  this  little  grain  of  wheat,  feeling  sure 
now  that  land  could  not  be  far  off. 

We  pressed  on  and  on,  and  it  became  colder  as 
we  traveled  higher  towards  the  summit  of  the 
glacier.  Before  reaching  this  elevation,  we  noticed 
that  the  smoke  of  the  volcano  constantly  hovered 
on  this  highest  point,  and  the  air  was  stagnant,  at 
times  making  us  drowsy.  As  we  neared  the  top  of 
the  glacier,  the  ice  looked  black  and  was  covered 
with  soot. 

While  in  camp,  before  starting  to  cross  the  glacier, 
we  had  made  several  pairs  of  good  moccasins 
from  bearskins  and  the  hide  of  the  wolverine,  and 


Crossing  the  Glacier  187 

had  it  not  been  for  these  furs  we  never  would  have 
been  able  to  exist  on  this  glacier. 

We  were  entirely  out  of  provisions,  and  so  weak 
from  hunger  we  could  scarcely  walk,  and  the  bull- 
dog was  so  lame  that  we  had  to  haul  him  on  the 
sled.  After  a  long  talk,  we  decided  to  kill  the  dog; 
because  it  was  useless,  in  our  weakened  condition, 
to  waste  our  strength  pulling  the  dog  when  he 
would  have  to  die  sooner  or  later — as  seemed  to  be 
the  fate  awaiting  all  of  us. 

Bill  and  I  tried  to  forget  our  hunger  and  at  times 
refused  to  eat,  in  order  that  Minnie  might  have 
more.  After  killing  the  dog  we  concluded  that 
dog-meat  was  about  as  good  as  horse-meat,  so  we 
skinned  him  and  kept  the  carcass.  After  dark,  we 
pulled  off  little  strips  of  the  lean  flesh,  and  I  helped 
to  eat  my  bulldog,  forcing  myself  to  forget  what 
kind  of  meat  I  was  eating.  Though  this  may  seem 
a  hard  thing  to  you,  reader,  to  me  it  was  easy ;  for 
after  a  human  being  has  passed  through  such  suffer- 
ing and  hardships,  his  senses  are  less  acute.  He 
has  a  big  appetite,  with  little  or  no  taste,  and  in  time 
becomes  much  like  a  savage.  The  dog  supplied  us 
with  nourishment  for  two  days. 

That  night  we  noticed    a    heavy    fog    over    our 


188  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

heads,  which  began  to  settle  and  condense,  forming 
great  drops  of  rain.  The  weather  turned  warm, 
making  us  most  uncomfortable  in  our  furs — in  fact, 
to  us,  it  seemed  like  summer.  Our  clothes  were 
becoming  damp,  and  at  last  we  realized  that  if  we 
should  get  wet,  and  the  weather  turn  cold,  we  would 
surely  freeze  to  death.  As  a  last  resort,  we  pitched 
our  tent  between  the  sleds. 

This  half  fog  and  half  rain  settled  on  our  little 
tent  and  froze,  until  it  was  weighted  down,  and 
covered  with  ice.    This  continued  all  night. 

The  next  day  when  the  fog  lifted,  there  were 
nearly  two  inches  of  newly  formed  ice  on  the  glacier. 
The  sleds  were  frozen  firmly,  and  we  had  to  cut  them 
loose.  Our  little  tent  had  to  be  abandoned,  because 
it  was  a  solid  mass  of  ice,  and  there  was  no  possible 
way  to  carry  it  with  us  in  that  condition. 

This  new  layer  of  ice  was  very  clear,  and  when 
we  chopped  our  sleds  out  we  could  see  the  old  ice, 
which  was  much  darker  than  the  new  formation, 
with  the  black  streak  of  soot  between.  Now  we 
could  understand  exactly  how  the  glacier  was 
formed  in  layers,  and  it  was  quite  plain  why  the 
black  streaks  could  be  seen  between  them ;  for  we 
had  observed  on  the  previous  day  that  the  smoke 


Crossing  the  Glacier  189 

of  the  volcano  had  settled  on  the  summit  of  the 
glacier,  the  point  we  had  at  last  reached. 

After  the  mist  was  lifted,  the  atmosphere  was 
clearer  than  it  had  ever  been  before.  Ahead  of  us, 
in  the  distance,  could  be  seen  a  small  growth  of 
stunted  trees,  such  as  usually  grow  above  the  timber 
line  on  a  mountain.  Now  we  were  sure,  that  unless 
some  accident  befell  us,  we  would  get  off  the  glacier. 


The  Trail  of  the  Wolves 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  WOLVES. 

At  last  we  reached  the  trees  that  we  saw  in  the 
distance,  and  Bill  shouted,  "Klondike !  we  have 
found  land  again !"  The  scrubby  trees  proved  to 
be  spruce,  and  looked  more  like  a  bush  than  a  tree, 
with  little  or  no  foliage.  This  we  knew  must  be 
due  to  the  smoke  of  the  volcano. 

We  still  had  our  snowshoes  and  put  them  on, 
beating  down  a  trail  for  the  dogs  for  about  two 
miles ;  when  suddenly,  in  plain  view,  we  saw  the 
blaze  shooting  from  the  mouth  of  the  volcano, 
which  was  on  a  level  with  us.  The  mountain  grad- 
ually sloped  down  from  where  we  were,  although 
our  sleds  would  not  coast,  because  the  snow  was  so 
deep  and  the  runners  of  the  sleds  were  narrow. 

Being  very  tired  and  hungry,  we  camped  early, 
in  a  little  grove  of  small  spruce  trees.  About  dusk, 
we  heard  a  noise  that  sounded  like  a  flock  of  quail 
a  short  distance  from  us,  which  Long  Bill  imme- 

1M 


194  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

diately  recognized  as  Alaska  ptarmigan.  He  hastily 
caught  up  the  gun,  and  shot  wildly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  sound,  and  with  two  shots  brought  down 
four  of  them. 

Stripping  some  of  the  dry  bark  and  limbs  from 
the  trees,  we  started  a  fire,  and  for  the  first  time 
in  weeks  had  a  pot  of  coffee,  and  having  boiled  the 
ptarmigan  in  the  frying  pan,  we  had  a  feast  fit  for 
a  king.  Coffee,  tea  and  salt  being  the  only  pro- 
visions we  had  left,  we  would  now  have  to  depend 
entirely  on  the  game  we  could  shoot. 

Next  morning  Bill  went  back  to  the  place  where 
he  shot  the  ptarmigan,  and  found  five  more  that  he 
had  killed,  but  did  not  find  the  previous  night  on 
account  of  the  darkness.  After  enjoying  the  second 
meal  of  ptarmigan,  we  pulled  camp  and  started 
on  down  the  mountain  in  the  direction  of  the 
volcano. 

We  had  only  gone  a  short  distance  when  we  came 
to  a  beaten  trail,  now  and  then,  to  our  astonishment, 
seeing  drops  of  blood  on  the  snow.  On  examining 
the  trail  closely,  we  saw  tracks  of  a  caribou  and  a 
band  of  wolves.  At  first  we  decided  to  go  in 
another  direction,  for  fear  of  meeting  them.  Again 
we  remembered  that  if  wolves  were  on  the  trail  of 


The  Trail  of  the  Wolves  195 

a  caribou,  by  that  time  they  had  killed  it  and  satis- 
fied their  hunger,  and  as  the  trail  led  in  the  direction 
we  wished  to  go,  we  followed  on  down  the  mountain. 

When  a  band  of  wolves  take  after  a  caribou 
they  usually  get  him,  for  they  follow  close  at  his 
heels,  and  at  each  opportunity  bite  his  hocks,  or 
hind  legs,  near  the  hoof,  until  they  so  cripple  him 
that  he  is  not  able  to  travel.  When  his  hindquarters 
become  helpless,  they  gradually  climb  on  him  from 
the  rear,  until  they  manage  to  get  him  down  entirely. 
Sometimes  these  wolves  will  follow  a  caribou  in  this 
manner  twenty  miles  before  they  succeed  in  killing 
him.  and  they  leave  a  beaten  trail  in  the  snow,  hard 
enough  for  anyone  to  travel  on.  The  only  place  a 
caribou  can  be  successfully  attacked  is  while  he  is 
in  the  deep  snow. 

Pretty  soon  the  dogs  began  sniffing  and  the  pups 
to  whine,  so  we  knew  we  must  be  close  to  the  end 
of  the  trail,  and  that  the  dogs  scented  the  blood  of 
the  caribou.  Wre  found  the  prey  exactly  in 
the  condition  we  had  imagined,  except  three  good 
sized  grey  wolves  were  still  feeding  on  the  caribou. 
Bill  lowered  his  rifle  and  put  an  end  to  one  of 
them — the  other  two  fled. 

So  we   pitched   camp   by   the   side   of   the   dead 


196  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

caribou,  and  cut  off  the  choice  pieces  of  meat  for 
ourselves,  then  turned  the  dogs  loose  on  the  rest  of  it. 
Next  morning  the  pups  looked  like  tadpoles,  being 
mostly  stomach  and  eyes.  This  was  a  timely  treat 
for  the  dogs — for  they  surely  did  need  something 
to  eat. 

For  four  days  we  traveled  down  this  mountain, 
until  we  came  to  the  summit  of  a  lower  mountain, 
and  I  will  never  forget  the  sight  I  saw  through  the 
field-glass:  a  steaming  lake,  like  a  great  pond  of 
hot  water,  which,  even  with  my  glass,  I  was  not 
able  to  see  across.  Beside  it  was  a  beautiful  valley, 
extending  for  miles  and  miles,  far  beyond  my  range 
of  vision.  There  seemed  to  be  towns  and  settle- 
ments, and  farms  with  fences,  and  now  in  reality 
I  saw  the  big  lake  and  buildings  which  were  shown 
to  us  in  the  Northern  Lights. 

Poor  Bill  jumped  and  shouted  and  whooped  with 
glee,  and  Minnie  exclaimed,  "I  knew  it,  I  knew  it! 
I  knew  we  would  find  this  place.  It  has  been 
pictured  to  me  in  dreams  all  my  life." 

"I  wonder  if  the  rest  of  your  dream  will  come 
true?"  I  asked,  to  which  she  answered,  "Never 
fear,  Professor,  the  rest  of  my  dream  is  too  good 
to  come  true." 


The  Trail  of  the  Wolves  197 

We  reasoned  that  this  lake  surely  must  be  an 
inlet  from  the  sea,  and  what  seemed  to  be  steam 
must  be  rising  fog;  but  these  cities— where  could 
they  be — where  were  we?  All  we  had  seen  for 
months  was  glacier  and  snow,  and  to  suddenly  see 
green  trees  and  fields  was  almost  more  than  we 
could  bear.  I  did  not  shout  or  jump  with  glee,  but 
leaned  against  my  sled  and  slowly  said, 

"Bill,  tell  me  if  you  can  see  the  same  things  that 
I  see  through  the  glass.  Can  you  see  a  vast  lake, 
covered  with  mist?  A  city  with  a  big  tower  in  the 
center?  And  all  the  green  fields,  and  evidences  of 
a  beautiful  civilization?    Bill,  tell  me,  is  it  a  mirage 

— or  am  I  losing  my  mind?" 

"No,  Professor,  blast  my  eyes  if  I  can't  see  all 

you  mention;  but  blow  me  if  I  know  where  we  are. 

I  can  see  the  big  tower  of  stone  on  this  side  of 

the  lake  in  the  center    of    the    city,    doncherknow. 

Minnie,  look  again." 

Little  Minnie  took  the  glass,  scanning  the  scene. 

Then  we  all  looked  again  and  again;  the  view  did 

not  change,  so  we  began  to  hope  that  our  sufferings 

were  soon  to  end. 

We  decided  to  camp  where  we  were  that  night, 

and  the  next  day  to  go  on. 


198  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

"Professor,"  said  Bill,  "blow  me  if  I  don't  believe 
this  is  the  domicile  of  an  order  of  monks,  secluded 
from  the  rest  of  the  world." 

"Oh  no,  Bill,"  said  Minnie,  "this  city  is  not  new 
to  me,  although  I  do  not  know  just  where  it  lies. 
It  seems  to  me  as  if  I  had  only  been  away  from  it 
on  a  visit,  and  lost  my  way  home." 

"It's  a  bloomin'  pity  you  didn't  remember  the 
trail.  It  might  have  saved  us  a  deucedly  hard  jolt, 
doncherknow." 


Reality  of  a  Dream 


199 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


REALITY    OF   A    DREAM. 


As  we  sat  there  by  our  camp-fire  after  our  meal, 
all  was  darkness,  except  the  little  blaze  of  the  fire 
before  us.  Suddenly  the  heavens  lighted  and  we 
heard  a  sound  like  the  roaring  from  the  stack  of  a 
blast-furnace.  Looking  toward  the  volcano,  the 
blaze  could  be  seen  leaping  high  into  the  air.  Minnie 
stood  erect,  facing  the  volcano  with  outstretched 
arms,  exclaiming, 

"Beautiful,  beautiful !  Thou  art  surely  my  friend, 
for  thy  smoke  has  led  me  to  my  life's  dream." 

As  I  looked  at  her  while  she  uttered  these  words, 
her  cheeks  aglow,  her  figure  so  nobly  erect,  I  won- 
dered if  she  were  some  supernormal  being,  who 
had  charmed  us  out  of  our  course  simply  to  attain 
her  ambition.  But  these  thoughts  had  no  sooner 
occurred  to  me  than  I  exclaimed  aloud, 

"No,  no,  it  cannot  be  true.  This  is  surely  the 
little   Swedish   girl   whom    I   met  in   the  canyon." 


202  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Then  hurrying  to  her  side,  I  attempted  to  take  her 
in  my  arms,  but  she  waved  me  away,  asking  me  if 
I  could  not  see  more  beauty  in  nature  than  I  could 
in  her  love. 

"Yes,  dear,  but  I  am  jealous  of  nature,  for  the 
nature  you  are  now  gazing  upon  seems  to  win  your 
love  from  me." 

Just  then  Bill  interrupted  with,  "Come,  come,  quit 
your  quarreling,  and  let's  go  to  bed.  Don't  accuse 
Minnie  of  not  loving  you,  Professor,  for  I  know  she 
does.  Blow  me  if  she  hasn't  proven  it  in  every 
respect." 

Acting  upon  Bill's  suggestion,  I  returned  to  the 
camp-fire  and  sat  down  on  the  ground.  Drawing 
my  knees  up,  I  stared  at  the  little  blaze  in  deep 
thought,  for  I  could  feel  within  me  that  my  time  had 
been  wasted,  following  a  fanciful  vision.  After 
all,  she  treated  me  kindly  only  for  the  service  I 
could  render  her. 

Minnie  continued  to  stand  and  gaze  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  volcano,  although  the  blaze  had  died 
down  and  all  was  darkness  now.  When  she 
returned  to  the  camp-fire,  she  sat  down  close  by  me, 
and  slipped  her  hand  in  mine,  saying,  "Look  up, 
dearie,  and  be  happy,  for  as  Bill  says,  'Never  mind 


Reality  of  a  Dream  203 

today,  it  will  be  worse  tomorrow.'  " 

I  did  look  up  at  her,  and  by  the  dim  light  of  the 
camp-fire  carefully  scrutinized  her,  and  in  spite  of 
the  long  suffering  and  the  exposure  to  the  elements, 
her  face  was  marvelously  beautiful.  I  thought  of 
the  story  of  "Beauty  and  the  Beast,"  placing  myself 
as  Beast ;  for  I  surely  resembled  one,  dressed  com- 
pletely in  furs,  with  long  hair  and  beard.  How 
could  I  expect  a  beautiful  woman  to  see  anything 
in  me  to  love?  So  I  smiled  at  her,  saying,  "I  will 
cheer  up,  Minnie,  and  try  to  remain  so  to  the  end 
of  our  journey." 

There  was  but  little  sleep  for  me  that  night,  for 
along  with  the  aches  and  pains  of  my  body,  my 
heart  ached,  too ;  for  I  had  never  loved  but  once  in 
my  life,  and  something  within  told  me  that  I  could 
not  retain  this  love — that  she  was  not  satisfied  with 
me.  She  seemed  more  spiritual  than  human,  as  no 
human  being  could  stand  the  exposure  and  hardships 
this  girl  had  suffered,  and  still  have  the  appearance 
of  a  stately  queen. 

The  following  morning  I  shot  an  ibex,  on  a  cliff 
about  fifty  or  sixty  feet  above  us.  Wounded,  it 
jumped,  landing  on  all  fours  in  a  snowdrift  on  a 
level  with  us,  and  only  a  few  feet  away.    We  soon 


204  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

had  it  skinned  and  cut  up  into  quarters,  then,  build- 
ing a  fire  of  birch  bark  and  spruce  limbs,  we  roasted 
pieces  of  ibex ;  and  like  Indians,  feasted  all  that  day, 
until  we  had  practically  devoured  the  animal. 

The  ibex  is  a  species  of  goat  or  sheep,  which 
never  goes  below  the  snow  line ;  but  feeds  on  twigs 
and  grasses,  growing  behind  the  shelter  of  rocks. 

In  the  distance  we  could  see  another  mountain, 
covered  with  a  grove  of  small  spruce  trees,  from 
eight  to  fifteen  feet  in  height.  Evidently  it  was  as 
high  as  the  one  we  were  on.  Between  the  two 
mountains  was  a  broad  valley  which  we  must  cross. 
The  crust  on  the  snow  was  sufficiently  hard  to  hold 
us  up,  but  we  dared  not  coast,  being  prevented  by  the 
trees  and  underbrush ;  our  effort  now  was  not  to 
pull  the  sleds,  but  to  hold  them  from  going  too  fast. 
We  were  again  obliged  to  put  our  creepers  on. 

The  farther  we  went  down  the  mountain,  the 
rougher  the  crust  became.  The  steam,  or  rain, 
encountered  by  us  on  the  glacier,  most  likely  had 
caused  this  crust  on  the  snow.  Though  it  was  very 
hobbly,  yet  it  was  as  smooth  as  glass.  After  a  while 
it  became  necessary  to  tie  a  rope  to  our  sleds  and 
wind  it  around  a  tree  and  lower  the  sleds,  lodging 
them  behind  another  tree,  then  to  creep  down  to 


Reality  of  a  Dream  205 

where  they  were  lodged.     In  this  way  we  traveled 
down  the  mountain. 

The  dogs  were  not  in  harness  during  this  descent, 
and  devoted  their  time  to  catching  rabbits,  which 
they  enjoyed,  but  we  could  not  bring  ourselves  to 
eat  them,  because  they  were  full  of  worms,  and  had 
sore  necks.  All  rabbits  in  Alaska  get  in  this  condi- 
tion once  in  five  years. 

The  second  day  we  reached  the  center  of  the 
valley,  where  we  found  a  river,  about  two  hundred 
feet  in  width.  This  looked  to  be  frozen  over,  until 
we  were  half  way  across,  where  we  found  an  open- 
ing and  a  swift-running  stream  of  water.  We  first 
traveled  down  stream  quite  a  distance,  looking  for 
a  place  to  cross,  for  it  was  not  very  deep;  but  not 
finding  any,  we  turned  around  and  went  up  stream. 

At  last  we  found  a  place  apparently  frozen  solid 
all  the  way  across,  but  as  we  walked  out  on  the  ice 
it  gave  down  with  our  weight.  Minnie,  seeing  her 
feet  were  about  to  get  wet,  jumped  on  top  of  the 
load.  I  saw  the  ice  was  giving  way  under  me,  so 
I  let  out  a  yell  to  the  dogs. 

Well  knowing  its  meaning,  they  began  to  whine, 
and  I  know  that  unless  one  has  had  experience  with 
a  dog-team,  he  cannot  realize  how  much  a  dog  can 


206  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

pull  when  he  has  to.  They  crouched  down  close  to 
the  ice,  ran  out  their  claws  into  the  ice  like  a  cat, 
and  with  a  pitiful  whine  they  surely  did  pull,  and 
did  it  in  a  hurry.  Even  a  dog  knows  what  it  means 
to  get  his  feet  wet  on  ice,  but  with  all  of  our  effort, 
the  ice  broke  through  as  we  neared  the  shore  on  the 
opposite  side.  The  sled  carrying  Minnie  upset, 
and  Minnie,  landing  on  a  cake  of  ice  in  the  river, 
in  the  attitude  of  the  "Count  of  Monte  Cristo," 
shouted, 

"Go  on,  I  can  swim  ashore !  Don't  stop  the  load 
in  the  water !" 

Here  the  river  was  shallow,  being  about  eighteen 
inches  deep,  so,  obeying  her  order,  we  rushed  for 
the  shore. 

In  the  meantime  Minnie  was  being  slowly  carried 
down  stream  on  the  floating  ice.  So  far  she  was 
quite  dry,  and  I  waded  out  to  her  rescue,  carrying 
her  ashore  on  my  back.  We  soon  had  a  good  fire 
and  were  drying  our  fur  suits.  Dressed  as  we  were 
entirely  in  furs,  we  resembled  modern  Robinson 
Crusoes. 

Long  Bill,  taking  off  his  boots,  which  were  made 
of  moose  skin,  with  hair  side  in,  put  them  by  the 
fire  to  dry.     Pretty  soon  we  heard  one  of  the  pups 


Reality  of  a  Dream  207 

chewing  on  something  behind  a  sled.  Bill  said  to 
me,  "See  what  that  blasted  pup  is  chewing  on." 

I  did,  only  to  find  he  had  stolen  one  of  Bill's  boots 
and  eaten  the  entire  foot  off  of  it.  We  had  with  us 
so  many  of  these  raw  furs  for  bedding  and  clothing 
that  it  kept  us  busy  watching  the  pups,  to  keep  them 
from  eating  our  clothes. 

The  rest  of  the  day  was  spent  in  drying  our  furs 
and  bedding,  and  making  a  new  boot  for  Bill ;  but  as 
he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  wearing  odd  ones,  he  felt 
quite  at  home  with  one  moose  skin  and  one  wolf 
skin  boot. 


By  the  Light  of  the  Lake 


209 


CHAPTER  XX. 

BY  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  LAKE. 

In  the  morning  we  prepared  to  ascend  the 
mountain.  The  crust  on  this  side  of  the  mountain 
was  not  so  hard,  and  very  often  we  would  break 
through  into  three  or  four  feet  of  snow.  All  the 
way  up  we  labored  through  just  such  difficulty  as 
this.  At  last  the  crust  became  so  soft  that  we  were 
compelled  to  use  our  snowshoes,  and  by  lashing 
sticks  on  both  sides  of  the  sleds,  we  pushed  them 
ahead  of  us,  in  this  way  keeping  the  sleds  from 
going  through  the  crust. 

It  was  night  when  we  reached  the  summit  of  this 
lower  mountain;  but  we  had  our  reward,  for  just 
then  the  flames  from  the  crater  shot  high  into  the 
air,  lighting  the  country  for  miles  and  miles  around, 
then  died  down  again. 

I  had  ceased  to  be  surprised  at  anything,  expect- 
ing each  hour  to  look  upon  sights  never  seen  before 
by  civilized  man. 

ill 


212  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

The  steaming  lake,  upon  which  we  had  gazed  in 
such  wonder  three  days  before,  through  our  field- 
glasses  from  the  high  mountain,  could  now  be  seen 
as  distinctly  as  by  daylight.  The  entire  lake  was 
alight ;  the  waves  were  phosphorescent,  giving  it  an 
appearance  of  molten  metal.  This  threw  a  brilliant 
light,  and  again  we  could  see  the  quaint  city  and 
the  high  tower. 

Here  we  camped  for  the  night,  and  as  we  laid 
our  heads  down  to  rest  we  no  longer  bade  each 
other  goodbye,  but  simply,  "Goodnight,  and  pleasant 
dreams." 

Along  in  the  night  I  was  awakened  by  a  slight 
sound,as  if  two  people  were  holding  a  conversation. 
On  opening  my  eyes,  I  saw  the  form  of  Minnie, 
standing  erect,  with  her  hands  outstretched  towards 
the  lake,  saying,  "Beautiful  lake  of  fire,  give  me 
your  secrets,  and  show  me  the  love  of  my  life, 
whom  I  have  sought  for  so  many  years.  I  have 
suffered  much  and  endured  much,  but  again  thou 
hast  given  me  strength  to  come.  I  will  soon  be 
with  thee." 

Her  manner  alarmed  me,  and  then  and  there  I 
decided  that  she  was  either  losing  her  mind,  or  was 
some  supernatural  being,  who  in  time  might  steal 


By  the  Light  of  the  Lake  213 

upon  us  in  the  night  and  kill  us,  thinking  herself  a 
great  queen,  and  through  with  our  services. 

Calling  to  her,  I  said,  "Come,  dear,  lie  down.  I 
am  afraid  this  hard  trip  has  been  too  much  for  you, 
and  you  had  better  rest  until  morning,  when  we  can 
resume  our  journey;  for  it  is  a  long  way  to  the 
lake  yet.  If  you  expect  to  meet  your  sweetheart 
there,  you  must  rest,  so  that  you  can  retain  your 
beauty  and  attraction." 

She  turned  and  looked  at  me  in  a  wise  way,  then 
came  over  and  sat  down,  exclaiming,  "This  may 
all  be  a  foolish,  fanciful  dream,  and  after  all, 
perhaps  you  are  the  man  whom  I  love ;  for,  dearie,  I 
do  like  you  very  much,  and  so  far  you  have  been 
all  in  all  to  me;  though  I  believe  somewhere  be- 
yond this — yet  perhaps  not  in  this  country — there 
awaits  the  man  of  my  dreams.  I  will  know  him 
when  I  seen  him." 

"Well,  Minnie,"  I  replied,  "when  I  met  you  I 
thought  that  you  were  the  girl  of  my  dreams.  Do 
you  think  that  my  dream  has  deceived  me?" 

She  left  the  question  unanswered,  and  soon  fell 
asleep,  but  there  was  little  sleep  for  me,  so  I 
watched  for  the  blaze  from  the  volcano,  which  now 
and  then  would  belch  forth  tongues  of  fire,  and  die 


214  Attraction  of   the  Compass 

away  as  quickly  as  it  came. 

The  next  day  we  pressed  on  with  new  hope  and 
vigor,  for  even  if  we  had  to  be  in  this  country  the 
rest  of  our  lives  and  die  here  separated  from  the 
rest  of  the  world,  we  knew  that  we  had  seen  a  sight 
that  no  other  man  in  our  country  had  ever  seen  or 
even  heard  of,  and  there  was  some  satisfaction  in 
discovery. 

The  snow  was  not  so  deep  now,  and  in  places  the 
ground  was  bare.  What  puzzled  us  most  was  how 
the  weather  could  be  moderating  at  this  time  of  the 
year,  when  we  were  somewhere  in  the  Arctic 
region ;  yet  it  surely  was.  for  we  were  becoming 
uncomfortably  warm  in  our  furs,  and  it  could  not 
be  later  than  the  middle  of  January.  Little  Minnie 
had  kept  close  track  of  the  days,  weeks  and  months. 

In  the  morning  we  wound  our  way  down  the 
hill,  which  was  more  of  a  gradual  slope  than  the 
mountains  we  had  passed  over.  Our  field-glass  was 
a  very  strong  one,  and  enabled  us  to  see  small 
objects  many,  many  miles  away  ;  but  the  most  promi- 
nent one  was  the  immense  tower,  which  resembled 
a  castle  about  ten  or  twelve  stories  high,  and 
appeared  to  be  built  of  stone. 

About  three  o'clock  we  located  a  good  camping 


By  the  Light  of  the  Lake  215 

place,  and  cut  some  of  the  small  spruce  trees  to 
build  a  kind  of  Indian  tepee,  for  we  took  shelter 
when  we  could  get  it. 

Bill  and  I  were  not  satisfied  with  the  view  we 
had  of  the  "Lake  of  Fire,"  as  we  called  it;  so 
decided  to  go  around  on  the  opposite  side  of  a  rocky 
bluff  near  by,  in  order  to  climb  up  and  get  a  better 
view,  Bill  taking  the  combination  gun,  in  case  we 
might  scare  up  some  game.  He,  being  much  longer 
legged  than  I,  was  some  distance  in  the  lead;  when 
suddenly,  from  a  small  cave  in  this  rock,  I  heard  a 
familiar  growl,  which  I  very  quickly  recognized. 
The  only  thing  for  me  to  do  was  to  pick  out  a  small 
tree  and  "get  there,"  which  I  did,  without  wasting 
time. 

From  my  elevated  position  I  saw  a  bear  as  large 
as  a  small  sized  cow.  He  must  have  been  a  cross 
between  a  grizzly  and  a  polar  bear,  for  he  was  white 
and  black,  marked  the  same  as  a  horse  or  cow,  and 
although  I  was  much  interested  in  this  animal  I 
would  much  rather  not  have  met  him.  The  tree  I 
went  up  was  too  small  for  the  bear  to  climb,  but 
with  vigorous  efforts  he  tried  to  shake  me  out.  I 
yelled  for  Bill  and  told  him  my  trouble. 

"I'll  be  there  in  a  minute,   Professor,"  he  an- 


216  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

swered,  but  Bill's  minutes  seemed  very  long,  for 
every  time  that  tree  swayed  back  and  forth  I  ex- 
pected it  to  be  torn  out  by  the  roots.  I  knew  if  Bill 
had  forsaken  me  now,  it  would  be  the  first  time  that 
he  had  hesitated  in  time  of  danger,  although  we 
had  never  met  a  bear  before.  But  my  fears  were 
needless.  One  faithful  shot  from  Bill's  rifle, 
coming  as  it  did  from  an  entirely  opposite  and  unex- 
pected direction,  ended  the  bear's  career. 

Sliding  out  of  the  tree,  I  asked  Bill  why  he  was 
so  long  in  coming,  to  which  he  replied,  "I  did  not 
want  to  shoot  at  the  bloomin'  animal  until  I  could 
catch  him  in  the  right  spot,  for  to  wound  a  grizzly 
bear  and  not  kill  it  is  committing  suicide  (for  one's 
self,)  doncherknow." 

We  went  back  for  a  sled  and  hauled  the  fellow  to 
camp,  where  we  skinned  him,  and  I  know  if  I  had 
that  pelt  in  the  United  States  it  would  never  be 
credited  as  genuine.  This  bear  supplied  us  all  with 
a  big  feast,  and  was  appreciated,  not  only  by  us, 
but  by  the  dogs. 

With  two  days'  more  travel  we  were  entirely  out 
of  the  snow,  but  the  moss  was  sufficiently  slippery 
to  pull  our  sleds  down  the  mountain.  Here  we 
met  with  a  new  difficulty,  unthought  of  before.    For 


By  the  Light  of  the  Lake  217 

the  first  time  we  had  no  water,  and  began  to  feel 
very  thirsty.  At  last  we  became  so  desperate  that  I 
dug  under  the  moss,  hoping  to  find  ice.  Sure  enough 
I  did ;  and  we  melted  some  in  the  frying  pan  over 
a  fire,  each  taking  a  drink. 

We  had  no  more  than  swallowed  it  before  we 
threw  it  up,  so  took  another  drink;  but  it  had 
the  same  effect.  We  had  noticed  that  the  ice  was 
yellow  from  running  through  the  moss,  but  had  not 
thought  of  it  being  poison.  So,  congratulating  our- 
selves that  we  had  escaped  what  might  have  been 
our  finish,  we  hurried  on  down  the  mountain,  still 
looking  for  water,  but  without  success. 

However,  we  stopped  to  cook  some  bear  meat, 
and  noticed  one  of  the  dogs  digging  behind  a  rock. 
At  last  we  went  to  see  what  he  was  after,  and 
found  a  nice  big  snowdrift  in  between  two  rocks. 
So,  melting  the  snow,  we  satisfied  our  thirst. 


Entering  a  New  Found  Country 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

ENTERING  A  NEW  FOUND  COUNTRY. 

As  we  were  about  finishing  our  meal,  the  dogs 
began  to  growl,  then  set  up  a  terrible  barking,  which 
was  unusual.  They  were  used  to  coming  in  contact 
with  all  kinds  of  game,  but  never  made  such  a  fuss 
as  this  before.  So  I  caught  up  the  rifle,  and  pre- 
pared for  the  worst.  Suddenly  there  appeared, 
through  the  bushes,  two  large,  raw-boned  men — the 
largest  I've  ever  seen — and  walked  up  to  the  fire. 
They  spoke  to  us  in  a  language  we  did  not  under- 
stand— and  this  was  saying  a  great  deal,  for  Minnie 
and  Bill  between  them  could  speak  seven  languages. 
Nevertheless,  this  was  a  new  one.  Bill  remarked 
once  or  twice  that  some  of  the  words  were  Greek, 
and  Minnie  said  that  they  looked  like  Norwegians. 
They  appeared  very  friendly,  and  finding  that  we 
could  not  understand  them,  motioned  for  us  to  fol- 
low them,  which  we  were  glad  to  do. 

We  soon  came  to  a  beaten  trail,  about  half  a  mile 


222  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

from  where  we  had  been  traveling ;  and  here  we  had 
been  working  our  way  through  the  brush  and  trees, 
when  a  good  trail  was  so  near. 

While  blazing  our  way  through  the  brush — be- 
fore reaching  the  trail — I  heard  one  of  my  pups 
howl,  and  saw  it  dashing  towards  me.  Looking  past 
him  I  saw,  in  hot  pursuit,  a  krugar,  an  animal 
resembling  a  mountain  lion. 

"Look,  Bill,  quick!    Where  is  the  gun?" 

I  had  no  more  than  spoken  the  words  until  one  of 
the  natives  pulled  from  his  pocket  a  small  ball,  half 
the  size  of  a  door  knob,  and  threw  it  in  the  direction 
of  the  krugar. 

It  did  not  strike  the  animal,  but  exploded  the 
instant  it  struck  the  ground,  with  such  terrific  force 
that  the  earth  under  us  fairly  trembled,  and  the  con- 
cussion nearly  knocked  us  off  our  feet.  We  ran 
toward  the  krugar,  expecting  to  find  him  blown  to 
pieces.  But  not  so ;  he  was  dead,  yet  simply  bleed- 
ing at  the  mouth  and  ears.  The  explosive  was  so 
powerful,  that  some  of  the  leaves  fell  from  the  trees 
in  the  vicinity. 

By  signs,  we  made  the  men  understand  that  we 
would  like  to  see  one  of  the  bombs ;  this  was 
granted,  but  the  stranger  did  not  let  us  take  it  from 


Entering  a  New  Found  Country  223 

his  hands.  It  was  a  perfectly  round  ball,  made  of 
material  resembling  melted  lava  or  cinder,  having  a 
small  sealed  opening,  showing  that  the  explosive 
was  put  in  after  the  ball  was  made. 

After  examining  the  ball  and  seeing  the  result  of 
its  use,  I  was  forced  to  a  conclusion,  which  I  hoped 
could  never,  be,  and  remarked  : 

"Bill,  it  will  be  useless  to  pick  a  fight  with  these 
fellows,  for  that  is  the  most  wonderful  explosive  I 
have  ever  seen  or  heard  tell  of." 

"My  word,"  answered  Bill,  "blow  me  if  I 
wouldn't  dislike  to  start  trouble  with  a  man  that 
size,  even  if  he  didn't  have  an  explosive  that  would 
kill  a  regiment  of  soldiers." 

Little  Minnie  made  several  efforts  to  talk  with 
them,  first  trying  Norwegian,  then  Swedish,  Finnish 
and  Danish,  German  and  French.  They  seemed  to 
understand  some  of  the  words  in  each  language,  but 
not  enough  to  carry  on  a  conversation.  Bill  even 
tried  Greek,  Latin  and  Siwash,  but  without  results. 

After  our  guides  had  walked  with  us  about  half 
a  mile  on  the  beaten  trail  we  came  to  an  old,  half 
tumbled-down  stone  house,  which  they  bade  us 
enter,  and  assisted  us  in  taking  in  our  outfits.  Here 
there  were  several  men,  women  and  children,  and 


224  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

as  each  member  of  the  household  saw  us,  they 
looked  in  wonder  and  amazement. 

The  clothing  worn  by  these  men  was  made  of 
homespun  wool,  consisting  of  a  coat  and  skirt,  in- 
stead of  trousers.  All  the  men  wore  long  beards 
and  hair  to  their  shoulders,  so  in  that  respect  Bill 
and  I  were  right  in  style.  They  wore  high-top  boots 
and  a  grass  hat,  and  from  all  appearance  had  the 
disposition  and  manner  of  a  Dunkard,  or  Mormon. 
The  women  wore  loose  robes  belted  in  at  the  waist. 
The  attitude  of  these  people  towards  one  another 
was  apparently  all  kindness,  and  they  treated  us  the 
same. 

By  motions  they  instructed  us  what  to  do. 

We  sat  for  some  time  in  a  large  room,  which  we 
thought  to  be  the  general  assembly  room  of  the 
household,  possibly  the  dining  hall. 

As  we  were  wondering  what  they  were  going  to 
do  next,  a  tall,  angular  girl  entered  and  spread  a 
linen  cloth  on  the  sideboard,  or  wall  table ;  brought 
out  a  large  crock,  made  of  a  material  which  looked 
like  lava,  also  bowls  and  spoons  of  the  same  mater- 
ial, and  motioned  us  to  eat.  We  did  not  require  the 
second  invitation,  and  poor  Bill  hardly  knew  how  to 
get  his  feet  under  the  table,  we  had  been  eating  off 


Entering  a  New  Found  Country  225 

of  the  ground  for  so  many  months.  We  filled  and 
re-filled  our  bowls,  for  the  soup  was  fine.  None  of 
us  had  tasted  anything  like  it  before.  Beside  soup 
we  had  boiled  mutton  with  artichokes,  and  Swedish 
bread,  a  kind  of  hardtack  called  "conecktybrude," 
and  bananas.  The  women  and  children  sat  around 
and  kept  their  eyes  steadily  fixed  upon  us,  for  to 
them  we  were  peculiar  looking  sights. 

We  were  still  completely  dressed  in  furs,  and 
these  were  not  cured.  In  this  warm  climate  the 
skins  were  spoiling,  creating  a  fearful  odor,  but  it 
was  all  the  clothing  we  had.  Minnie  again  at- 
tempted her  many  languages,  but  finding  words  of 
no  use,  by  signs  she  made  them  understand  that  we 
wanted  clothing.  These  men  seemed  much  ashamed 
of  themselves  for  not  having  thought  to  offer  us 
clean  garments. 

Bill  and  I  were  shown  to  a  small  swimming-pool, 
while  Minnie  was  left  with  the  women,  who 
provided  her  with  clean  clothing  and  a  place  to  bathe. 

We  spent  the  night  in  this  tumble-down  house, 
which  at  one  time  had  evidently  been  a  famous 
building,  but  through  age  and  neglect  there  were 
now  but  three  habitable  rooms. 


The  City  of  Tyron 


227 


CHAPTER    XXII. 


THE   CITY   OF   TYRON. 


The  next  morning  we  had  a  good  breakfast  of 
steamed  cracked  wheat  and  goat's  milk,  after  which, 
imagine  our  surprise  to  see  standing  before  the  door, 
an  old-fashioned  two-wheeled  cart,  drawn  by  a 
morox. 

The  morox  is  short-legged,  with  wonderful  horns, 
an  animal  claimed  by  science  to  be  extinct.  Never- 
theless, these  people  had  one  hitched  up  and  were 
working  it,  proving  to  us  that  we  were  in  an 
unknown  country,  for  Bill  was  a  student  of  zoology, 
and  declared  that  the  morox  was  not  in  existence 
in  any  part  of  the  known  world. 

Our  outfits,  sleds  and  all,  were  loaded  on  the  cart. 
By  signs  we  were  told  to  get  on.  We  made  no 
effort  to  ask  them  where  they  were  taking  us,  for  it 
was  of  no  use.  We  were  quite  willing  to  give 
ourselves  into  their  charge,  for  surely  we  could  not 
fare  any  worse  than  we  had  for  the  past  months. 

«2» 


230  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

To  Minnie,  everything  seemed  familiar.  As  we 
would  pass  some  old  building,  or  a  stone  wall,  she 
would  exclaim,  "Oh  yes,  I  remember  that  place 
quite  well.  I  was  only  ten  years  old  when  I  first 
saw  it." 

"My  word,  Minnie,"  said  Bill,  "I  fear  for  your 
mind,  doncherknow,  for  you  were  never  in  this 
country  before." 

"Perhaps  not,  in  this  life,"  she  answered,  "but  I 
have  had  dreams  of  this  country  in  my  sleep,  and 
visions  of  it  when  I  was  awake.  I  was  not  sure  I 
would  ever  see  it  in  reality ;  but  fate  has  brought 
me  here.    I  am  surely  charmed." 

Even  our  dogs  seemed  to  understand  that  this 
was  civilization,  for  they  romped  and  played  and 
barked  with  glee. 

The  dogs  had  been  accustomed  to  much  faster 
traveling  than  that  afforded  by  an  ox-cart.  Becom- 
ing impatient,  they  undertook  to  seize  the  morox  by 
the  nose,  until  I  was  compelled  to  tie  them  behind 
the  cart.  Immediately,  they  threw  their  weight  in 
the  collar  and  started  to  assist  in  pulling  the  load, 
for  they  imagined  they  were  in  harness,  and  knew 
their  duty.    This  seemed  to  amuse  the  natives. 

The  pups  had  never  seen  a  cart  before,  and  it 


The  City  of  Tyron  231 

kept  us  busy  seeing  that  they  were  not  run  over. 

Even  at  this  apparently  slow  gait  we  made 
eighteen  miles  that  day,  for  the  lake  furnished  a  hazy 
light,  which  made  it  possible  for  us  to  travel  early 
and  late.  That  night  we  arrived  at  a  small  village 
of  about  two  hundred  inhabitants.  The  natives 
here  viewed  us  with  curiosity. 

Great  beads  of  sweat  stood  on  our  brows  and  we 
had  to  keep  fanning  ourselves,  although  the  natives 
seemed  perfectly  comfortable.  We  readily  under- 
stood that,  for  after  living  on  glaciers  so  many 
weeks  our  blood  had  thickened.  We  noticed  also, 
to  our  great  discomfort,  upon  nearing  the  lake  the 
climate  became  warmer. 

Xow  and  then  as  we  traveled  along  we  looked  at 
the  great  tower  through  the  field-glass,  and  tried  to 
understand  the  guides  when  they  attempted  to  tell 
us  what  it  was. 

Once  I  remarked,  ''Never  mind,  we'll  find  out 
what  it  is.  It  may  be  our  burial  place,  who  knows ; 
for  these  people  never  laugh ;  they  barely  smile 
over  the  antics  of  the  dogs.  They  take  things  too 
seriously  to  be  safe." 

They  appeared  to  look  upon  us  with  great  pity. 

The  guides  took  us  to  a  stopping-place,  which 


232  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

from  all  appearance  was  an  inn  of  some  kind. 

They  showed  us  a  place  to  keep  the  dogs,  and 
thinking  some  harm  might  come  to  them,  Bill  de- 
decided  to  remain  with  them,  and  we  managed  to 
make  the  men  understand  this.  He  was  given  a 
portion  of  an  unoccupied  building  adjoining,  and 
furnished  with  some  food  for  the  dogs. 

In  this  room  he  found  some  whole  wheat,  the 
grains  of  which  were  the  size  of  grains  of  corn,  so 
running  to  me  he  exclaimed : 

"I  say,  this  is  the  country  where  the  bloomin' 
goose,  which  we  shot  on  the  glacier,  found  the  large 
wheat !" 

After  we  had  examined  the  wheat,  he  returned 
to  the  out-building  and  finished  cooking  the  dogs' 
supper.  In  the  meantime,  the  women  were  pre- 
paring our  supper,  which  they  served  in  much  the 
same  manner  as  it  had  been  in  the  first  stone  house. 

On  the  following  morning,  after  a  most  refresh- 
ing sleep,  I  sauntered  into  the  court,  where  I  saw 
Bill  giving  an  exhibition  to  a  large  company  of  the 
natives.  The  two  dogs,  hitched  to  a  sled,  were 
pulling  him  over  the  bare  ground,  thereby  showing 
their  strength  in  harness. 

"Hello,  Bill,  how  did  you  sleep  last  night?"   I 


The  City  of  Tyron  233 

exclaimed. 

"I  was  so  warm,  dry  and  comfortable  in  the  bed," 
replied  Bill,  "blast  me  if  I  could  sleep.  I  got  up 
and  found  a  broom  and  put  it  across  the  bed  under 
me,  in  order  to  feel  natural,  but  it  was  of  no  use. 
Then  I  decided  to  get  off  the  bed  and  lay  on  the 
floor  with  the  dogs,  where  I  soon  fell  asleep.  Drot 
it,  I  suppose  I  can  never  become  accustomed  to  liv- 
ing like  a  white  man  again." 

After  breakfast,  we  expected  to  continue  our 
journey  in  the  cart  drawn  by  the  morox,  but  as  wc 
let  the  dogs  out  of  their  room  they  began  to  bark 
and  seemed  very  much  frightened,  tearing  in  and 
out  of  the  door,  as  if  imploring  us  to  protect  them. 
When  I  stepped  out  through  the  court  I  did  not 
blame  the  dogs,  for  one  of  the  largest  elephants  I 
had  ever  seen  stood  there.  Our  sleds  and  outfits 
were  packed  on  a  platform  upon  its  back,  and  we 
were  to  mount  by  means  of  a  ladder. 

Our  guides  motioned  us  to  ascend,  and  with  great 
sport  and  laughter  we  did  so.  In  the  meantime,  all 
the  natives  looked  at  us  as  if  they  were  going  to  a 
funeral,  and  we  decided  that  they  meant  it,  and  that 
we  were  to  be  the  victims.  Still  we  thought  we 
would  enjoy  life  while  we  could,  for  after  our  ter- 


234  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

rible  hardships  and  the  constant  worry  as  to  what 
new  and  worse  difficulty  we  were  next  to  encounter, 
this  brief  relaxation  from  concern  for  the  future 
was  joy  untold. 

One  of  the  natives  led  the  dogs.  This  mode  of 
travel  was  much  faster  than  the  ox-cart,  although 
the  tottering  and  swaying  back  and  forth  of  this 
great  animal's  back  soon  made  us  seasick. 

In  this  manner  we  traveled  two  days,  stopping 
noon  and  night  at  some  roadside  house  for  refresh- 
ments and  sleep;  until  at  last,  just  at  dusk,  we 
arrived  at  the  city  seen  many  days  before  through 
our  glass. 

Here  we  were  furnished  a  small  stone  cabin. 
There  were  many  cabins  like  this  one,  with  now  and 
then  a  large  one  the  shape  of  a  crescent. 

The  inside  of  the  crescent  formed  a  yard  and 
playground,  many  families  occupying  apartments  in 
this  crescent-shaped  building. 

The  interior  of  the  building  was  beautifully  deco- 
rated with  lava  tiling  of  many  shades,  and  the 
hangings  were  of  richly  colored  woolens,  somewhat 
like  Navajo  blankets  in  texture,  but  not  in  design. 

All  the  roofs  were  flat  and  made  of  lava,  similar 
to    glazed    tile.     The    lava    tiles    were    cemented 


The  City  of  Tyron  235 

together  with  a  material  like  sulphur,  used  in  the 
place  of  mortar. 

Minnie,  when  examining  this  cabin,  found  a  mark 
on  the  stone,  which  she  said  was  an  emblem  of 
Norway.  This  was  apparently  the  mark  of  the 
builder,  and  she  declared  at  once  that  these  people 
were  Norwegians,  who  had  forgotten  their  own 
language.  She  said  she  knew  her  people  wherever 
she  found  them ;  even  though  they  failed  to  recognize 
the  Scandinavian  languages,  they  could  not  disguise 
their   features. 

This  cabin  had  the  prettiest  floor  imaginable, 
made  from  this  same  lava  tiling.  It  was  in  different 
squares  and  forms,  and  cemented  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  roof. 

We  retired  early  that  evening,  and  in  the  morn- 
ing Bill  and  I  arose  long  before  daylight,  and  were 
met  at  the  door  by  the  largest  crowd  of  people  we 
had  seen  for  a  long  time.  All  seemed  to  be  there 
to  meet  us,  but  not  seemingly  to  greet  us.  They 
looked  at  us  in  wonder  and  we  returned  their  gaze, 
for  among  them  were  men  who  looked  like  Nor- 
wegians, others  resembling  Eskimos,  and  even  one 
who  looked  like  a  Jew  ;  one  or  two  of  Italian  descent, 
and  several  Russians.  This  proved  to  my  satisfaction 


236  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

that  their  ancestors  had  come  from  different 
countries — but  how  did  they  get  there?  They  all 
spoke  the  same  tongue. 

"Bill,  let's  go  down  and  have  a  look  at  the  lake, 
that  we've  been  traveling  so  long  to  get  to,"  I 
suggested. 

"Perhaps  these  blasted  people  won't  let  us," 
answered  Bill.  "I  feel  like  a  prisoner,  doncherknow." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "we  can  start,  and  if  they  stop 
us  we  can  come  back." 

"Blow  me,  if  that  isn't  a  capital  idea.  I  hadn't 
thought  of  that,  doncherknow.  Drot  it,  there  is 
no  use  in  asking  permission,  for  they  would  not 
understand  us,  so  let's  be  off." 

So,  calling  little  Minnie,  we  started  out  through 
the  crowd,  with  our  dogs.  The  people  made  way 
for  us,  but  continued  to  stare,  some  of  them  follow- 
ing us  toward  the  lake. 

Before  reaching  the  lake,  we  came  to  a  most  beau- 
tiful park,  about  five  hundred  feet  from  the  shore. 
There  was  no  vegetation  closer  to  the  water  than 
this  park.  The  walks  were  shaded  with  banana 
trees  and  all  manner  of  tropical  palms,  which 
appeared  to  be  of  natural  growth. 

We  sat  down  in  this  park;   for,  nearing  the  lake, 


The  City  of  Tyron  237 

the  heat  became  unbearable.  By  this  time  the  dogs' 
tongues  were  out,  and  they  were  panting  with  the 
heat.  The  pups  kept  on  going  until  about  half  way 
to  the  water's  edge,  when  suddenly,  howling  and 
running,  they  came  toward  us,  holding  up  first  one 
foot  then  the  other,  having  burned  them  to  a  blister 
on  the  hot  rocks.  We  could  now  see  why  vegeta- 
tion grew  no  nearer  the  lake. 

While  sitting  there,  a  man  who  looked  like  a 
Russian  came  toward  us,  and  shook  hands.  Minnie 
spoke  to  him  in  German,  saying,  "Sprechen  sie 
Deutsch  (do  you  speak  German)  ?"  He  shook  his 
head,  not  understanding. 

"Kan  de  Tale  Dansk  (do  you  talk  Danish)  ?" 
He  still  made  no  reply. 

The  next  query  was  in  Norwegian,  "Snache  die 
Norsk?"  This  means,  do  you  speak  Norwegian? 
"Sproke  Svenske  (do  you  speak  Swedish)?"  Yet 
no  reply.  Then  Bill  jumped  up,  crying,  "Parlez- 
vous  Francais?"  The  Russian  took  Long  Bill  in 
his  arms,  crying,  "Oui,  oui.  Monsieur.  Oui,  oui." 
Then  rattling  on  in  French,  he  gave  Bill  no  oppor- 
tunity to  reply. 

I  had  a  feeling  that  probably  Bill's  French  was 
limited,  and  that  his  question  had  exhausted  it;  but 


238  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

not  so.  Presently  Bill  bellowed  out  something  in 
French  to  the  Russian,  which  stopped  his  chatter 
Then  Bill  began  to  talk.  After  talking  about  ten 
minutes,  he  remarked  to  us  in  English : 

"It  cost  my  guardian  about  five  thousand  dollars 
to  teach  me  that  bloomin'  language,  and  blow  me 
if  this  isn't  the  first  time  I  have  ever  had  any  use 
for  it.  My  word,  this  chap  knows  everything, 
except  how  to  talk  without  using  his  bloomin' 
hands." 

Then  I  said,  "Well  then,  Bill,  this  is  a  grand  op- 
portunity to  find  out  something  about  this  country. 
Ask  him  if  the  lake  is  going  dry  or  why  the  water 
is  so  far  out,  and  where  the  darn  trail  is  that  leads 
out  of  this  country." 

"I'll  try  to,  Professor,  but  I  am  a  bit  rusty  at  this 
language." 

Bill  started  in  on  him,  nevertheless,  and  they 
talked  and  talked  to  one  another.  Repeatedly  I 
asked  Bill,  "What  does  he  say?" 

Bill  made  no  reply,  and  the  Russian  kept  on 
talking.  At  last  I  had  to  remind  Bill  that  it  was  the 
height  of  ill  manners  to  speak  a  foreign  language 
in  the  presence  of  a  person  who  did  not  understand 
it.    Bill  took  me  by  the  arm,  urging: 


The  City  of  Tyron  239 

"Wait,  Professor,  this  is  a  new  discovery  that 
the  world  knows  nothing  of." 

"Tell  us  what  it  is  about  Bill,  and  then  I'll  have 
the  patience  to  wait." 

"It's  the  effect  of  the  sun  on  the  tide." 

I  remarked,  "Go  on,  the  sun  does  not  affect  the 
tide,  it's  the  moon.  The  sun  has  been  useless  ever 
since  Joshua  stopped  it." 

At  this  he  gave  my  arm  a  good  shake  and  told  me 
to  stop  my  bloomin'  foolishness,  for  this  conver- 
sation was  serious. 

Finally  they  finished,  and  Bill  turned  around  to 
me,  but  did  not  speak  at  first. 

"Well,  what  did  he  say?"  I  asked. 

"Blow  me  if  I  can  talk,  for  thinking.  I  asked  him 
if  the  lake  was  drying  up,  or  what  caused  the  water 
to  be  so  far  out." 

"What  did  he  say,  Bill?" 

"He  went  into  detail  and  explained  to  me  a  thing 
I  had  never  thought  or  heard  of.  He  said  the  tide 
was  out,  and  blow  me  if  he  didn't  say  that  it  was 
the  sun  which  affected  the  tide  instead  of  the  moon." 

"Oh,  he  is  losing  his  mind,"  I  said.  "Those  are  not 
orthodox  ideas." 

"Orthodox    ideas    be    blowed !     The    extent    of 


240  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

knowledge  of  the  average  person  is  what  they  have 
been  taught,  or  what  they  have  read.  Their  educa- 
tion is  artificial,  doncherknow,  and  they  have  little 
or  no  practical  knowledge.  All  of  their  ideas  have 
been  thought  out  by  the  thinking  few,  and  handed 
to  them  in  print  generations  afterward." 

"So  this  man  is  one  of  the  thinking  few,  is  he?" 
I  queried. 

"Yes,"  Bill  answered.  "He  says  that  he  is  a  Rus- 
sian student,  and  was  also  educated  in  France, 
doncherknow,  but  on  account  of  certain  socialist 
opinions  he  was  exiled  from  his  country  to  Siberia. 
From  there  he  made  his  escape,  and  by  accident 
found  this  jolly  country,  where  he  is  forced,  by  the 
bloomin'  laws  existing  here,  to  remain ;  which  he 
says  is  not  all  unpleasant,  for  here  there  is  every- 
thing that  man's  heart  could  wish  for. 

"This  Russian  says  that  while  it  is  generally 
claimed  that  the  moon  causes  the  tides,  since  arriving 
in  this  country  he  finds  it  to  be  the  sun,  doncher- 
know, not  the  moon,  that  affects  the  tide. 

"He  tells  me  the  name  of  this  jolly  fine  country  is 
Tapond.  It  is  located  in  a  magnetized  area,  which 
is  the  real  attraction  of  the  compass.  This  mag- 
netized area  covers  many  thousands  of  miles,  and 


The  City  of  Tyron  241 

upon  reaching  it  the  compass  is  no  longer  true, 
doncherknow,  and  for  this  reason  no  man  can  ever 
discover  the  north  pivot  by  the  aid  of  a  bloomin' 
compass.  Besides  this,  the  sun  is  the  most  power- 
ful thing  in  the  known  universe.  It  draws  this 
magnetized  area,  and  if  the  sun  be  on  one  side  or  the 
other  of  this  space,  it  slightly  tips  the  earth  towards 
it.  causing  the  change  of  tide  all  over  the  world." 

"No  wonder  they  exiled  that  fellow  from  Rus- 
sia," I  remarked.  "Ask  him,  Bill,  what  he  would 
use  in  place  of  the  compass." 

"A  glass  tube  of  radium,  so  prepared  that  the 
sun  affects  it,  and  points  east  instead  of  north. 
Every  twelve  hours  it  swings  upon  its  bloomin' 
pivot,  and  by  figuring  out  the  time  of  day,  and  the 
day  of  the  year,  a  fellow  can  determine  the  exact 
direction  he  is  traveling." 

After  explaining  this  to  me  Bill  then  inquired 
of  the  Russian,  "What  language  do  these  people 
use  ?"  and  was  told  that  they  used  an  universal  lan- 
guage. Taking  a  small  slate  and  a  pencil,  the 
Russian  began  explaining  it  to  us.  Words  occurring 
most  frequently  in  several  languages  were  made 
common  to  this  one  tongue,  endings  and  syllables 
being  used  in  such  a  manner  as  to  create  a  speech 


242  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

wonderfully  expressive  and  beautiful.  Its  main 
charm  to  us,  however,  was  the  facility  with  which 
it  could  be  learned.  In  half  an  hour  we  were  able 
to  use  quite  a  few  words. 

The  nouns,  adjectives,  and  adverbs  had  endings 
peculiar  to  themselves.  All  nouns  ending  in  "o," 
and  adjectives  in  "a."  There  was  no  plural,  and 
certain  well  defined  suffixes  and  prefixes  cleverly 
modified  the  meaning  of  the  original  root,  such  as 
f  rat-o,  boy  ;  f  rat-in-o,  girl. 

We  were  told  by  this  man  that  there  was  another 
crater  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  lake,  not  quite  so 
active  as  the  one  near  us.  About  every  three  weeks 
it  threw  forth  a  gas  which  curdled  the  moisture  of 
the  air  into  rain. 

The  lake  was  covered  with  phosphorus,  and  we 
could  now  understand  why  it  looked  like  fire  at 
night.  The  sulphur  in  the  water  was  so  thick  that 
it  washed  up  in  ridges  on  the  shore. 


The  Chief 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE   CHIEF. 

After  Bill's  conversation  with  the  Russian,  we 
returned  to  our  cabin,  as  we  now  called  it,  for  it 
had  been  assigned  to  us  for  shelter ;  and  our  guides, 
the  two  big  Norwegians,  brought  us  some  boiled 
wheat  and  goat's  milk,  also  bananas  and  fruit  of 
many  kinds.  We  were  in  a  tropical  climate  now, 
a  veritable  "Garden  of  Eden,"  and  these  natives 
must  have  had  instructions  to  give  us  the  best  the 
country  afforded,  and  make  every  effort  to  under- 
stand our  wishes. 

"My  word,  but  I  do  believe  these  people  are  can- 
nibals," said  Bill,  "and  intend  to  fatten  us  up  and 
have  a  pot-latch,  like  some  of  the  tribes  in  South 
Africa  when  they  catch  a  tender-foot.  When  they 
get  us  good  and  fat  they'll  put  us  in  a  bloomin'  pot 
and  boil  us  up,  and  the  whole  city  will  have  a  feast, 
doncherknow." 

"Well,  Bill,"  I  answered,  "if  they  wait  till  you 

245 


246  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

get  fat,  we'll  live  a  long  time." 

We  remained  in  the  stone  cabin  all  clay,  feasting 
and  gazing  on  this  wonderful  lake,  which  furnished 
warmth  and  life  to  all  of  the  surrounding  country, 
and  created  various  climates,  for  by  traveling  a  few 
miles  toward  the  lake  or  from  the  lake  one  could 
live  in  any  climate  he  desired. 

All  about  us  seemed  to  be  high-peaked,  rocky 
mountains,  covered  with  snow,  excepting  in  the 
direction  of  the  volcano,  the  route  by  which  we 
entered  the  country.  Ever  since  we  had  been  in  the 
city  we  could  see  a  thick  grey  smoke  hovering  over 
the  glacier  and  the  mountains  we  had  passed. 

The  next  day  we  three,  with  our  dogs,  took  a 
stroll  through  the  city,  going  in  and  out  of  shops 
and  stores,  such  as  they  were,  and  passing  many 
interesting  and  curious  sights,  until  we  came  to  a 
great  square.  In  the  center  was  a  large  statue 
of  a  man  with  high  cheek  bones,  the  true  type  of  a 
Norwegian. 

Carved  on  the  face  of  the  rock,  under  the  statue, 
was  the  picture  of  a  viking  ship,  such  as  Eric  the 
Red  might  have  used  when  he  discovered  America, 
four  hundred  years  before  Christopher  Columbus 
touched  the  Indies. 


The  Chief  247 

This  boat  was  built  like  a  large  row  boat,  with  a 
square  sail;  the  head  of  a  dragon  was  carved  on 
the  bow,  a  fish's  tail  on  the  stern,  and  the  sides  hung 
with  shields  and  armor  of  war.  It  was  manned 
by  twenty  men,  ten  on  each  side,  each  man  with  an 
oar,  and  a  man  in  the  center  of  the  boat,  with  two 
mallets  and  a  block  in  front  of  him.  From  all 
appearances  he  was  keeping  time  for  the  oarsmen. 
On  the  pedestal  under  the  ship  was  an  inscription. 

Suddenly  Minnie  stopped  and  clapped  her  hands 
with  glee,  crying  aloud,  "I  knew  these  people  were 
Norwegians,  for  here  is  a  verse  in  that  language." 

As  she  read  it  aloud,  first  in  Norwegian,  and  then 
in  English,  the  people  who  were  still  following  us, 
looked  at  her  in  wonder  and  amazement.  It  read 
as  follows  : 

"We  know  not  whence  we  came  or  where  we  go; 
Believe  as  we  will,  we  do  not  know." 


'"Sealed  within  this  stone  is  a  history  of  this 
country." 

Just  then  a  distinguished  looking  man,  mounted 
on  a  small  elephant,  came  up. 

Minnie,  when  she  saw  him,  exclaimed  in  a  low 
voice.  "My  prince!  I  knew  it!  I  knew  I  would 
find  him!" 


248  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

He  spoke  to  us  in  his  native  language,  which  was 
not  yet  very  clear  to  us.  Minnie  at  once  tried  her 
many  languages  on  him,  and  he  seemed  to  under- 
stand the  Finland  language  fairly  well.  He  asked 
her  if  she  could  read  the  inscription  on  that  stone, 
and  she  replied  by  reading  it,  and  translating  it  into 
the  Finnish,  seemingly  to  his  amazement. 

Then  he  told  her  that  she  was  the  first  stranger 
coming  to  this  country  who  had  been  able  to  read 
that  inscription.  In  fact,  she  was  the  only  one  since 
the  death  of  the  great  pirate  chief  whose  statue 
stood  there,  who  had  not  been  secretly  taught  by  a 
chief  of  the  country,  Tapond.  He  said  the  statue 
represented  the  chief  of  a  band  of  pirates,  who  dis- 
covered the  country  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

After  he  had  finished,  Minnie  translated  his 
words  very  rapidly  to  us,  for  she  was  an  artist  at 
this.  This  man,  as  he  turned  away  from  us,  gave 
some  instruction  in  his  native  language  to  our 
guides.  Minnie  started  right  out  to  follow  him,  and 
I  had  to  call  her,  for  our  guides  had  motioned  us  to 
follow  them  in  another  direction. 

I  asked  Minnie  why  she  had  followed  this  man, 
and  she  replied  that  she  knew  not.  She  seemed  to 
be  attracted  to  him  just  as  our  compass  had  been 


The  Chief  249 

attracted  toward  the  great  iron  mountain. 

"So  after  all,  Minnie,  I  am  not  the  real  attraction 
of  my  Little  Compass?" 

Her  reply  was,  "I  have  known  you  only  a  day 
in  comparison  with  the  length  of  time  I  have  known 
this  man.  For  he  has  visited  me  in  my  dreams 
since  childhood.  It  was  he  that  I  was  following 
the  night  in  the  swamp  when  I  nearly  walked  out 
of  the  boat." 

"Perhaps  he  will  not  recognize  you,  as  you  have 
him,"  I  replied,  hoping  that  this  might  be  the  case. 

We  were  then  escorted  to  the  palace  of  the  leader, 
as  we  eventually  learned  him  to  be,  which  proved  to 
be  the  tall,  tower-like  castle  we  had  seen  through 
our  glass  as  we  entered  the  country. 

This  castle  was  ten  or  twelve  stories  high,  and 
covered  about  one  block.  It  was  of  stone,  deco- 
rated and  trimmed  with  different  shades  of  tiling, 
made  from  the  melted  lava  that  at  times  flowed 
from  the  volcano. 

We  were  shown  into  the  palace,  which  was 
decorated  and  draped  like  a  Turkish  salon,  with 
oriental  rugs,  statues  and  pictures.  The  tiled  floor 
resembled  an  ancient  pavement  of  Roman  Mosaic, 
with  its  many  designs  and  colors.     For  the  first  time 


250  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

we  saw  several  firearms  hanging  on  the  walls, 
although  none  were  of  a  modern  type,  most  of  them 
being  the  old-fashioned  blunderbuss,  and  some  were 
flint-lock  rifles,  evidently  relics. 

This  leader,  or  chief,  soon  returned  to  the  castle. 
He  furnished  us  a  room  for  the  dogs  in  his  stables, 
connected  with  the  mansion. 

After  we  had  been  guests  in  the  castle  for  two 
days,  one  of  our  guides,  who  was  still  with  us, 
brought  to  us  an  old  man,  with  a  long  grey  beard 
and  bowed  head,  who  at  once  stepped  up  and  shook 
hands  with  each  of  us.  He  spoke  in  broken  English, 
telling  us  that  he  was  an  American  who  many  years 
before,  had  been  aboard  an  ill-fated  whaling  vessel. 

It  was  carried  partly  through  the  Northern  Chan- 
nel and  crushed  by  an  iceberg.  After  long  suffering 
and  fearful  hardships,  he,  with  one  companion,  had 
reached  this  country,  in  which  he  had  been  a 
prisoner-at-large  all  these  years. 

He  told  us  that  he  had  been  brought  many  miles 
to  meet  us,  and  to  see  if  he  could  translate  our 
language  to  these  people. 

Imagine  our  pleasure  upon  actually  meeting  a 
person  who  spoke  English,  and  who  had  at  one 
time    lived    in    the    United    States.      Knowing   his 


The  Chief  251 

English  to  be  much  broken — in  fact,  he  had  forgot- 
ten many  of  the  English  words — he  informed  us 
that  we  were  the  first  English  speaking  people  with 
whom  he  had  had  an  opportunity  to  speak  his  native 
tongue  since  he  had  been  in  the  country. 

While  he  had  much  liberty,  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  leave  the  country ;  in  fact,  he  had  no  desire 
to  do  so.  The  hope  and  longing  to  see  his  own 
country  and  friends,  who  were  no  doubt  all  dead 
by  this  time,  had  long  since  been  abandoned. 

We  told  him  that  we  would  like  very  much  to 
have  him  for  our  teacher  and  guide,  as  we  were 
anxious  to  learn  the  manners  and  customs  of  these 
people,  and  to  have  explained  to  us  the  many  things 
we  failed  to  understand. 

He  expressed  his  willingness  and  pleasure  to  do 
this,  and  said  that  he  would  undoubtedly,  for  a  while 
at  least,  be  with  us  most  of  the  time;  and  that 
there  would  be  no  hurry  for  us  to  learn  from  him, 
as  we  had  the  rest  of  our  lives  in  which  to  learn 
the  language  and  ways  of  the  people.  There  was 
no  possible  way  for  any  of  us  to  leave  that  country 
again,  for  it  was  against  the  law.  These  people  did 
not  want  the  outside  world  to  have  a  knowledge  of 
their  beautiful  country,  or  of  their  honest  people. 


252  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

Anyone  happening  to  arrive  there  by  accident  was 
always  well  treated  and  protected,  but  never  was 
allowed  to  leave,  for  fear  the  rest  of  the  world 
would  be  told  of  their  discovery. 

I  asked  him  if  it  were  against  the  law  for  him 
to  give  us  this  information,  to  which  he  replied, 

"No,  you  are  very  much  desired  as  citizens  and 
have  been  accepted  as  such,  and  clothed  by  the 
people  of  this  country.  You  will  always  be  treated  as 
guests.  It  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  worry,  or  to 
want  for  anything,  except  to  return  to  your  own 
country.     But  that  can  never  happen." 

After  half  an  hour's  conversation,  he  told  us 
that  he  had  been  requested  to  ask  us  by  what  route 
we  had  reached  the  country,  and  with  as  few  words 
as  possible  we  reviewed  our  trip,  and  arrival  there. 

"I  will  tell  our  Chief  what  you  have  said,"  he 
answered,  "but  I  doubt  very  much  that  he  will 
believe  you,  for  no  living  thing  ever  crossed  that 
glacier  before.  Many  an  expedition  has  attempted 
it,  always  to  perish ;  if  not  from  the  cold,  from  the 
poisonous  gases.  There  never  has  been  a  time,  to 
our  knowledge,  when  the  top  of  this  glacier  is  not 
covered  with  gas  and  smoke  from  the  volcano,  inas- 
much as  the  glacier  is  the  same  height  as  the  mouth 


The  Chief  253 

of  the  crater." 

We  assured  him  that  we  had  come  that  way,  and 
had  passed  over  this  route  upon  which  he  claimed 
all  living  things  must  perish.  We  then  told  him 
that  a  very  heavy  fog,  or  steam,  had  settled  on  us 
that  night.  He  remembered  it  well,  and  said  that 
everyone  in  the  city  had  noticed  the  steam  from 
the  mouth  of  the  crater.  Such  a  dense  steam  at  this 
season  of  the  year,  had  not  occurred  before  within 
the  memory  of  even  the  oldest  citizen. 

"The  great  Supreme  Power  must  have  been  with 
you,  and  provided  a  way  for  you  to  pass  over  the 
glacier  alive,  for  some  purpose." 

At  once  I  thought  of  Minnie  and  her  dreams. 
We  asked  where  this  hot  water  came  from,  and 
he  told  us  a  great  geyser,  in  the  side  of  the  volcano. 
Then  we  told  him  something  he  had  never  heard. 
That  is,  that  the  water  supplying  this  geyser  came 
from  a  river  flowing  into  a  cave  under  the  magnet- 
ized iron  mountain  ;  not  appearing  again  until,  after 
being  heated  on  its  course  through  the  base  of  the 
volcano,  it  reappeared  as  this  geyser.  Besides  this, 
we  told  him  that  we  had  entered  this  cave  and  found 
it  to  be  very  rich  in  placer  gold. 

"So  that  accounts  for  the  gold  we  find  near  this 


254  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

geyser,"  he  replied. 

"Your  hot  geyser  also  accounts  to  us  for  the  dis- 
appearing river,"  I  said,  "and  the  terrific  noise  heard 
in  the  cave  under  the  magnetized  mountain.  It 
sounded  to  us  as  if  a  huge  coffee-pot  were  boiling 
over.  Then  a  great  gust  of  steam  would  fill  the 
cave,  as  if  this  river  were  pouring  into  an  immense 
fire ;  which  proves  to  us  that  the  river  flows  through 
the  base  of  this  volcano,  where  it  receives  its  heat. 
When  the  swamps  we  crossed  freeze  up,  the  river 
ceases  to  flow  into  the  volcano." 

"And  that  is  why  we  have  winter  and  summer," 
said  the  sailor,  "and  why  the  geyser  ceases  to  flow 
in  the  winter,  which  causes  a  lowering  of  temper- 
ature. There  is  no  water  flowing  through  it  at  this 
time  of  the  year,  and  the  heat  of  the  volcano  and 
the  mountain  is  more  intense,  keeping  the  sur- 
rounding country  from  freezing  up." 

"And  if  this  volcano  should  cease  to  be  active  in 
this  latitude  your  country  would  freeze  up  alto- 
gether?" 

"Yes,"  he  conceded,  "quite  true." 

"Some  of  our  men,"  continued  the  old  man, 
"make  a  business  of  placer  mining  near  this  geyser. 
This  is  only  done,  though,  when  the  geyser  is  not 


The  Chief  255 

active.  From  this  gold  jewelry  is  made,  and  also 
our  money." 

We  were  then  shown  a  national  coin,  on  one  side 
of  which  was  the  picture  of  a  viking  ship ;  on  the 
other,  the  face  of  the  Norwegian,  whose  statue  we 
had  seen  in  the  middle  of  the  square. 

"This,"  he  continued,  "is  our  largest  coin,  and  will 
equal  in  value  twenty  dollars  of  American  money. 
As  the  coins  grow  smaller  they  bear  the  likenesses 
of  different  men  who  have  ruled  this  country  in 
honor,  but  never  the  face  of  one  who  has  brought 
shame  to  his  office.  There  are  smaller  coins  bear- 
ing portraits  of  men  who  have  served  their  country, 
not  for  pay  or  graft,  for  there  is  none  here,  but  for 
the  honor  they  won  by  faithful  service  during  the 
time  they  were  in  office.  Now  I  must  leave  you,  as 
I  have  to  report  our  interview  to  the  Chief,  but  I 
will  see  you  again  soon." 

When  he  came  next  morning,  we  asked  him  to 
accompany  us  to  the  lake.  So,  with  the  old  sailor, 
Bill,  Minnie,  and  I,  in  our  peculiar  costumes,  which 
consisted  of  a  coat  and  skirt  and  grass  hat,  again 
visited  the  lake.  Bill  was  not  able  to  resist  the 
temptation  to  hold  up  his  skirts  in  imitation  of  a 
Seattle  girl  crossing  a  muddy  street,  but  his  long, 


256  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

slim  legs  did  not  attract  the  bystanders. 

Again  we  came  to  the  beautiful  park  encircling 
the  lake.  Some  of  the  trees  had  perished  during 
the  terrific  heat  of  that  dreadful  night  we  had 
passed  on  the  summit  of  the  glacier.  This  change 
in  conditions  must  have  been  especially  provided 
for  us,  as  the  old  sailor  said ;  for  we  had  escaped 
the  gas  by  being  enclosed  in  a  foggy  vapor,  which 
in  twenty  minutes  had  turned  the  climate  on  the 
glacier  from  sixty  below  zero,  to  temperate  heat. 


Marriage  Laws 


«57 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

MARRIAGE    LAWS. 

We  stood  and  gazed  toward  the  volcano,  which 
was  belching  forth  blaze  and  smoke  into  the  sky. 
As  we  watched,  the  smoke  gradually  disappeared 
beyond  the  mountain  and  glacier. 

"Well,  Minnie,"  I  said,  "I  heard  you  crying  once 
to  the  blaze  of  this  volcano,  to  give  up  its  secrets, 
and  tell  you  of  your  prince.  Do  you  think  it  has 
listened  to  your  call?" 

"I  believe  I  have  met  my  choice,  and  I  intend  he 
shall  choose  me." 

"Were  you  looking  for  your  prince  when  you 
started  with  us  down  the  river  from  Dawson  ?"  I 
queried. 

"I  was  always  looking  for  my  prince,  but  never 
expected  to  meet  him  in  this  country.  But  love  goes 
where  it  is  sent,  they  say,  even  to  the  North  Pole." 

"Well,  let's  forget  it  for  the  present,  dear,  and 
look!  there  is  the  blaze  from  the  volcano  again.     It 

259 


260  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

beats  like  the  heart  of  the  earth,  for  it  appears  every 
so  often,  and  gives  life  to  this  wonderful  country." 

After  returning  to  the  castle  we  were  served  with 
a  lunch,  mainly  of  fruits.  Fruit  of  all  kinds  was 
plentiful  in  that  country,  from  the  hard  winter  apple, 
to  the  banana,  orange  and  pineapple.  One  won- 
dered where  all  these  varieties  grew,  but  this  coun- 
try, as  I  have  said  before,  had  all  the  climates,  from 
the  coldest  to  the  warmest,  for  the  closer  to  the  lake 
one  went  the  warmer  it  became. 

The  Chief  seemed  to  have  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  his  country,  and  I  was  surprised  to  find  out  later 
that  he  also  had  an  extensive  knowledge  of  the 
world,  for  among  the  prisoners  escaped  from  Sibe- 
ria who  had  found  their  way  to  this  country,  by 
other  routes,  were  two  thoroughly  educated  students. 
These  men  had  traveled  all  over  the  world, 
and  had  a  general  knowledge  of  all  countries.  They 
had  been  selected  as  teachers  of  the  leaders  of 
Tapond. 

We  saw  little  of  Bill  these  days,  as  he  spent  most 
of  his  time  with  the  French-Russian,  and  each  night 
he  would  tell  us  what  he  had  learned  during  the 
day. 

"I  say,  Professor,  what  do  you  think?    The  Rus- 


Marriage  Laws  261 

sian  took  me  up  to  his  home.     Blow  me  if  he  isn't 
married  to  a  jolly  fine  little  native." 

"What!   Is  he  married?   Who  did  he  find  willing 
to  tie  up  for  life  to  a  horrid  man?" 

"Oh,   no!  not   for  life,  doncherknow.    Marriage 
here  is  arranged  hy  contract,  five  years  at  a  time." 

Little   Minnie   then   asked,   "What   is   their  plan 
of  marriage?" 

"Marriages,  as  explained  to  me  by  the  Russian," 
Bill  replied,  "are  all  conducted  by  the  government 
for  a  period  of  five  years,  and  if  both  parties  are 
going  on  well  and  satisfied  at  the  end  of  that  time 
with  their  married  life,  blow  me  if  they  don't  try 
it  over,  renew  the  contract,  and  have  another 
wedding  and  a  jolly  good  time.  All  of  their  lives  they 
continue  to  do  this  every  five  years;  but  if  at  any 
time  they  have  a  hair-pulling,  or  first-fight,  or  dis- 
agreement of  any  kind,  doncherknow,  they  can  fail  to 
renew  their  marriage  vows,  which  frees  them.  And, 
drot  it,  don't  you  see,  this  causes  each  party  to  make 
a  special  effort  to  please  the  other,  for  fear  his  com- 
panion will  not  be  willing  to  renew  the  marriage  at 
the  end  of  the  contract.  A  capital  plan,  doncher- 
know." 

"But,"   I  asked,   "in  case  there   is   a   family  of 


262  Attraction  of  the   Compass 

children  and  both  parties,  or  one  party,  is  dissatisfied 
and  refuses  to  renew  the  marriage  at  the  end  of 
the  five  years,  what  becomes  of  the  children?" 

"Oh,  they  are  put  in  the  public  school,  boarded, 
clothed  and  educated  away  from  the  environment 
of  wrangling  parents.  Blow  me  if  this  school  isn't 
kept  up  by  the  marriage  fees  that  have  been  paid 
into  the  treasury  for  renewals." 

Bill  then  added,  "Children  not  only  receive  book- 
learning  in  these  schools,  but  a  practical  education 
from  experience,  which  is  of  benefit  to  them  through 
life.  And  bah  Jove,  there  is  some  sense  to  that, 
doncherknow,  for  I  was  educated  in  two  countries 
and  learned  three  languages,  and  after  passing 
through  Oxford  I  was  compelled  to  go  to  work  for 
a  man  who  did  not  have  time  or  money  to  go  to 
college,  but  was  forced  by  his  limited  means  into  a 
practical  education.  By  the  by,  I  was  soon  dis- 
charged for  my  limited  knowledge,  for  my  head 
was  crammed  so  blasted  full  of  book-learning  that 
it  had  no  room  for  the  solid  and  substantial  facts 
of  the  business  world." 


The  Lost  Love 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


THE    LOST    LOVE. 


The  next  evening  Chief  Eric  called  upon  us  in 
our  apartments,  and  catching  sight  of  Minnie,  he 
stepped  up  and  stroked  her  hair.  She  looked  like 
a  different  individual  since  taking  a  bath,  changing 
her  clothing,  and  washing  her  blonde  hair,  which 
without  doubt  was  very  beautiful.  As  he  stroked 
her  hair,  he  looked  in  her  eyes  and  talked  in  the 
Finland  language.  He  told  her  what  little  he  knew 
in  Finnish  was  taught  to  him  when  he  was  a  child, 
by  an  old  sailor  who  had  been  lost  in  the  Arctic 
ocean,  and  by  accident  had  found  this  country, 
where  he  lived  to  be  an  old  man. 

After  he  held  a  few  moments'  conversation  with 
Minnie,  she  told  us  that  she  was  going  with  him  to 
look  further  through  the  palace. 

A  cold  chill  came  over  me,  because  I  began  to 
see  a  light  in  her  eyes  that  I  had  never  seen  there 
before,  and  I  realized  that  this  man  was  not  only  a 


266  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

chief  in  name  but  a  prince  in  appearance.  Tall, 
with  wavy  black  hair  and  a  jet  black  mustache 
and  beard  (ail  men  in  this  country  wore  beards), 
heavy  black  eye-brows,  long  eye-lashes,  and  beauti- 
ful teeth.  This  man  answered  the  description  of 
the  prince  whom  Minnie  had  dreamed  about  in  the 
boat.  He  was  graceful  in  every  way  and  seemingly 
very  kind  at  heart,  and  she  being  a  decided  blonde, 
they  seemed  to  act  like  the  magnet  and  the  nail.  I 
realized  now  that  Minnie  was  the  compass,  but 
that  this  Chief  was  her  attraction. 

I  asked  Bill  if  he  noticed  this;  he  assured  me  that 
he  had  not,  and  that  I  need  have  no  fear,  for  after 
passing  through  the  sufferings  Minnie  had  experi- 
enced with  us,  there  was  no  possible  chance  for  her 
ever  to  forsake  us  or  forget  our  kindness.  But  this 
did  not  satisfy  me  and  I  paced  the  floor. 

The  country  had  no  more  charms  for  me ;  I  had 
no  further  interest  in  it,  and  at  once  told  Bill  that 
I  would  shoulder  my  rifle  and  fight  my  way  out  of 
that  country,  and  take  with  me  the  only  woman  I 
had  ever  loved. 

Well  I  knew  the  impossibility  of  what  I  was 
saying,  but  in  my  rage  forgot  my  situation. 

I   went  out   of   our  apartments   and   started   to 


The  Lost  Love  267 

search  the  palace  for  her,  and  thought  perhaps  I 
might  show  her  the  wrong  of  being  separated  from 
us.  I  was  afraid  to  trust  them  alone  together,  for 
he  seemed  to  have  a  great  power,  or  influence,  over 
her.  So  I  went  through  one  beautiful  room  after 
another,  up  and  down  winding  stairs,  through  cor- 
ridors and  courts.  At  last,  I  pulled  aside  a  heavy 
hanging  curtain,  and  there,  seated  upon  a  gold- 
mounted  chair,  was  the  Chief,  and  on  some  beauti- 
ful cushions  at  his  feet  sat  Minnie,  looking  into  his 
eyes  and  repeating  after  him  words  he  was  trying 
to  teach  her. 

My  feet  seemed  to  be  glued  to  the  tile  floor 
where  I  stood,  and  I  was  speechless,  for  I  had  never 
seen  Minnie  look  like  this.  At  last  I  found  my 
voice  and  cried  aloud,  "Minnie,  you  surely  have  not 
forgotten — you  surely  haven't  forsaken  me.  Come 
back !" 

She  replied  to  me  in  English,  which  the  Chief 
could  not  understand,  "I  have  come  a  long  way, 
through  great  suffering,  to  find  the  prince  of  my 
life's  dream.  Now  that  I  have  found  him  you  must 
not  interfere.  Your  mission  has  been  fulfilled ;  you 
have  been  my  guide  to  bring  me  to  my  prince.  I 
dismiss  you  with  honors — what  more  can  I  do?" 


268  Attraction  of   the  Compass 

I  felt  my  knees  weaken  under  me  and  I  cried 
aloud,  "My  God,  why  did  I  not  freeze  to  death 
out  there  on  the  glacier?  Why  have  I  lived  to  expe- 
rience this  great  sorrow?" 

I  returned  to  my  apartments  and  told  Bill.  He 
did  not  believe  me,  so  I  led  him  back  and  showed 
him  what  I  had  seen ;  and  when  she  saw  both  of  us 
looking  at  her,  she  came  forward.  Chief  Eric 
looked  after  her,  but  did  not  move.  He  stroked 
his  mustache,  and  seemed  to  be  in  deep  thought. 
Slipping  her  hand  in  mine  as  if  to  pacify  me,  she 
turned  and  smiled  goodbye  at  the  Chief,  and  went 
with  us  to  our  apartments. 

When  we  were  alone,  Bill  and  I  had  a  long  talk 
with  Minnie,  and  asked  her  what  the  Chief  had  said. 

"He  told  me  that  I  was  to  occupy  the  seat  of 
honor  in  this  country  with  him,"  she  said,  "because 
I  love  him,  and  he  loves  me.  His  whole  life  long 
he  has  dreamed  a  dream  and  had  a  hope  that  the 
Supreme  Power,  which  the  people  of  this  country 
worship,  would  some  day  send  him  a  beautful  inter- 
preter, who  would  not  only  interpret  the  legend  on 
the  stone,  but  would  also  interpret  the  aching  in 
his  heart,  which  gave  him  more  anxiety.  He  said 
we  were  destined  for  each  other    since  the  day  of 


The  Lost  Love  269 

our  birth,  although  born  many  thousand  miles  from 
each  other.  This  great  power,  whatever  it  may  be, 
and  too  deep  for  man's  knowledge,  has  worked  out 
our  fate,  and  brought  me  many  miles  across  seas, 
swamps  and  glaciers  to  share  his  happiness  and  his 
country." 

"Did  he  not  understand  that  you  were  mine?"  I 
asked. 

"He  asked  me  that  question ;  if  by  any  law  of  our 
country  or  people  that  either  of  you  had  a  claim 
upon  me.  I  assured  him  that  you  had  not." 

"Then  after  all  your  pretension  of  love  for  me 
you  told  him  I  had  no  claim  on  you?" 

"My  pretension  of  love  for  you?  I  did  not  know 
that  I  had  pretended  to  love  you.  I  liked  you,  and 
I  think  you  have  been  a  very  good  friend  to  me, 
but  you  must  not  forget  that  I  have  gone  through 
a  great  deal  of  suffering  in  your  company." 

"Never  mind,  Professor,"  said  Bill,  "most  all 
men  who  have  brought  their  wives  or  sweethearts 
to  Alaska  have  lost  them  as  soon  as  they  saw  a 
brighter  future." 

Minnie  remained  with  us  in  our  apartment,  and 
we  sat  by  the  window  all  night,  talking  and  watch- 
ing the  action  of  the  volcano  and  the  lake. 


270  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

The  sulphur  and  electricity  caused  this  lake  to 
look  beautiful  at  night.  I  can  think  of  no  more 
proper  name  to  give  to  this  substance,  for  it  acted 
like  electricity  and  caused  every  ripple  on  the  lake 
to  sparkle,  which  furnished  a  dim  light  over  the 
entire  city. 


Woman's  Scorn 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
woman's  scorn. 

The  next  morning  I  expected  Chief  Eric  to  return 
for  Minnie,  and  was  thinking  how  I  would  express 
to  him  my  love  for  her  whom  he  was  so  cruelly 
stealing  from  me.  I  intended  to  address  him  in  the 
universal  language  as  best  I  could,  but  I  was  dis- 
appointed again.  He  did  not  come  near  us  or  send 
for  her,  nor  interview  us  for  almost  a  week. 

During  that  time  Minnie  was  very  restless,  and 
went  so  far  as  to  undertake  to  find  him,  but  it  was 
of  no  use.  She  could  not  see  him,  nor  hear  from 
him  in  any  way,  so  I  told  her  that  perhaps  he  had 
noticed  my  affection  for  her;  that  they  were  very 
honest  people,  and  would  not  interfere  in  any  love 
affair. 

She  stormed  at  me  in  rage,  and  for  the  first  time 
during  my  acquaintance  with  her  she  did  not  smile 
when  she  spoke  to  me.  Minnie,  my  Little  Compass, 
always  smiled  when  she  spoke  to  anyone.     I  had 

273 


274  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

never  heard  her  speak  ill  of  anyone ;  I  had  never 
known  her  to  be  sorrowful,  or  to  tell  an  untruth ;  I 
had  never  known  her  to  be  downhearted ;  but  now 
her  whole  appearance  changed,  and  she  met  my  eyes 
with  a  stare  that  I  will  never  forget.  Bill,  always 
having  a  ready  remark,  warned  me,  "Be  careful, 
Professor,  for  there  is  nothing  so  deucedly  shocking 
in  all  this  world  as  a  woman's  scorn — and  snake 
bites." 

Bill  was  a  fool  in  some  ways,  but  a  philosopher 
in  others,  and  understood  a  woman  much  better 
than  I. 

Minnie  left  us  and  went  out  on  the  stone  veranda 
overlooking  the  lake,  and  looked  wistfully  down 
the  long  boulevard  by  the  lake.  Nevertheless,  she 
did  not  see  the  object  for  which  she  was  searching. 
She  returned,  looking  disappointed,  and  would  not 
speak  to  either  Bill  or  me. 

The  next  morning  our  American  sailor  friend 
came  to  the  castle,  and  said  that  he  was  now 
at  liberty  to  remain  with  us  as  long  as  we  wanted 
him.  We  were  walking  in  the  court  after  breakfast 
when  he  arrived,  and  the  first  question  Bill  asked 
was,  "How  did  these  men  happen  to  find  us  on  our 
arrival  in  this  country?" 


Woman's  Scorn  275 

"The  two  men  who  brought  you  here  were  out 
hunting  at  the  time  they  came  across  you,  and  hear- 
ing your  shot  became  alarmed.  It  differed  so  from 
our  explosive  that  out  of  curiosity  they  went  in 
your  direction,  and  seeing  the  smoke  of  your  camu 
were  again  very  much  surprised ;  but  they  realized 
that  in  their  pockets  they  carried  enough  ammuni 
tion  to  tear  up  a  hundred  square  feet  of  earth,  if 
necessary.  So  they  sought  you  out,  and  when  you 
were  found  to  be  strangers,  they  brought  you  ip 
with  them." 

I  was  beginning  to  realize  how  impossible  it  would 
be  to  carry  out  my  plan  of  escape  from  the  country 
with  my  one  little  rifle,  against  such  powerful 
ammunition  as  was  used  in  this  country,  and  I  knew 
this  man  spoke  the  truth. 

He  continued,  as  if  he  read  my  mind,  "There  is 
but  one  way  of  escape  from  this  country,  and  that 
is  heavily  fortified  day  and  night.  Armed  men  are 
ready  at  any  time  to  distribute  a  hundred  of  these 
bombs  into  the  midst  of  an  enemy  undertaking  to 
enter  our  country  in  a  body.  They  have  a  spring 
machinery  that  will  throw  these  bombs  half  a  mile. 

"This  way  of  escape  is  across  a  low  divide  near 
the  outlet  of  the  lake ;  for  it  has  an  outlet  in  a  dis- 


276  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

appearing  river  which  flows  through  the  base  of  a 
second  volcano,  at  the  lower  end  of  the  lake,  where 
it  empties  into  the  sea.  This  undoubtedly  creates 
the  warm  current  that  flows  through  into  the  Arctic 
ocean,  and  causes  the  open  channel  that  so  many 
men  have  passed  through  in  search  of  the  North 
Pole,  simply  to  return  by  the  way  of  Siberia. 

"In  a  similar  way  all  warm  currents  are  caused 
in  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans.  The  water  seeps 
into  the  ground  at  some  unknown  place,  passes 
through  the  base  of  some  underground  volcano,  then 
empties  into  the  sea  at  some  point,  and  creates  a 
hot  current." 

"This  lake  provides  us,"  he  continued,  "with  hot 
bathing  pools  which  we  will  visit  later,  and  the 
water  is  allowed  to  seep  from  the  lake  through  the 
earth,  purifying  it;  but  it  still  retains  its  natural 
heat.  The  water  drains  into  a  large  basin,  built  of 
tile  and  surrounded  by  a  wall.  There  are  many 
such  bathing  pools  throughout  the  city,  the  largest 
of  which  is  in  the  private  grounds  of  the  castle. 

"The  faith  the  people  have  in  this  hot  water  for 
bathing  purposes  cures  them  from  all  aches,  pains, 
and  sickness.  We  have  no  other  remedy.  But 
after  all,  it  is  the  faith  that  cures  them,  not  the 


Woman's  Scorn  277 

water." 

Bill  then  asked  the  sailor  if  he  was  sorry  that  he 
was  an  outcast  from  civilization,  and  was  compelled 
to  remain  here  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  He  replied 
that  he  was  for  the  first  few  years ;  but  when  he 
lived  in  civilization,  he  used  to  be  an  habitual  drunk- 
ard, and  after  each  voyage  he  would  go  ashore  and 
squander,  in  drink  and  dissipation,  his  time,  money 
and  health ;  but  as  there  was  no  liquor  in  this 
country,  he  realized  it  was  the  best  place  for  him. 

"Have  these  people  no  beverage?"  asked  Bill. 

"None  whatever,"  he  replied.  "We  know  how  to 
make  it,  but  have  no  use  for  it." 

As  the  old  sailor  concluded,  Bill's  friend,  the 
Russian,  was  ushered  into  the  court,  and  Bill  now 
directed  his  conversation  to  him,  in  French. 

During  their  interview,  I  had  a  heart  to  heart 
talk  with  Minnie,  trying  to  plead  my  cause,  but  it 
was  of  no  use. 

"What  were  you  and  the  Russian  talking  about 
this  time,  Bill?"  I  asked,  as  he  joined  us. 

"That  bloomin'  chap  keeps  me  in  deep  thought 
all  the  time.  He  tells  me  that  in  this  country  they 
have  the  mammoth.  When  I  told  him  we  had  found 
the  tusk  and  skull  of  a  mammoth,  the  head  of  a 


278  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

morox,  and  some  bones  of  the  ibex,  near  Dawson, 
the  buggar  tried  to  make  out  that  this  whole 
country  was  once  a  tropical  climate,  caused  by  hot 
geysers,  hot  lakes  and  volcanoes.  Blast  it,  the 
fellow  convinces  me,  doncherknow  ;  for  it's  well  I  re- 
member of  a  rotten  palm-leaf  that  I  dug  out  while 
prospecting  on  Henderson  Creek." 

"Well,  what  of  it,  Bill?  This  was  before  our 
time.  Blessed  is  the  man  who  does  not  think,  but 
lets  other  men  think  for  him.  A  tired  brain  is  more 
apt  to  kill  a  man  than  a  tired  muscle,  so  quit 
thinking.  Bill.  However,  if  the  outer  world  knew  of 
this  land,  it  could  supply  many  a  missing  link  in 
socialism  and  science." 

"Yes,"  said  Bill,  "I  know  of  three  links  that  have 
been  missing  in  all  the  studies  of  my  life.  One  is 
the  location  of  the  attraction  of  the  compass,  which 
we  have  discovered  on  this  trip ;  another  is  the 
source  of  the  hot  water,  which  causes  the  warm 
currents  of  the  ocean  and  the  open  channel  of  the 
North  Sea ;  and  the  third,  which  is  of  most  import- 
ance, is  that  the  sun,  not  the  moon,  influences  the 
tide." 

"Yes,  boys,"  said  the  sailor,  who  entered  in  time 
to  hear  the  last  of  our  conversation,  "this  is  a  won- 


Woman's  Scorn  279 

derful  country,  and  that  is  why  these  people  are  so 
careful  to  keep  this  intelligence  from  the  rest  of 
the  world." 


Reading  of  the  Parchment 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

READING  OF  THE   PARCHMENT. 

By  this  time  we  were  told  that  dinner  was  ready, 
and  that  we  would  eat  in  the  main  dining-room, 
to  which  Minnie,  Bill,  and  I  were  shown  by  our 
sailor  friend.  The  food  was  all  on  the  sideboard, 
and  we  helped  ourselves  and  took  it  to  the  table, 
which  was  spread  in  great  style.  Here  we  were 
met  by  Chief  Eric,  with  whom  we  ate. 

This  was  the  first  time  we  had  seen  him  since 
he  had  the  interview  with  Minnie.  He  shook  hands 
with  Long  Bill  and  me ;  but  when  he  came  to 
Minnie,  he  simply  bowed,  taking  his  place  at  the 
head  of  the  table. 

When  I  saw  this  I  was  somewhat  relieved,  for 
after  all,  perhaps  his  was  a  passing  fancy  for  her, 
and  probably  all  my  worry  was  for  nothing. 

Minnie  kept  watching  him  as  he  ate,  as  if  to 
hypnotize  or  influence  him. 

While  we  were  eating,  the  Chief  arrived   from 

289 


284  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

the  city  of  Kyron,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  lake, 
so  we  had  no  farther  chance  for  conversation  with 
Chief  Eric,  much  to  Minnie's  disappointment. 

To  help  pass  the  evening,  the  sailor  took  us  to  an 
exhibition.  Girls  and  men,  in  very  scant  attire, 
were  giving  acrobatic  stunts  in  a  big  bathing  pool : 
then  morox  were  led  in,  hitched  to  carts,  and  a  kind 
of  chariot  race  took  place.  Trained  sea-lions  gave 
a  performance,  then  two  bears  ended  the  show,  by 
doing  a  high  dive  in  the  water. 

The  next  morning  our  old  sailor  returned  bright 
and  early,  as  usual,  to  help  us  with  the  native  lan- 
guage, and  to  teach  us  as  much  as  he  could  of  the 
ways  of  these  people. 

He  spoke  again  of  his  entrance  into  this  country ; 
telling  us  of  how  their  ship  was  crushed  in  the  ice, 
and  out  of  sixteen  men  he  and  one  other  reached 
this  land  of  Tapond. 

"Since  my  coming  here,"  he  continued,  "there 
have  been  more  than  twenty  strangers  arrive  at 
different  times,  and  most  of  them,  of  late  years, 
were  escaped  convicts  from  Siberia.  In  a  party 
twelve  years  ago,  there  were  five  men  and  three 
women  from  Siberia.  Two  of  the  women  and 
three  of  the  men  are  still  living." 


Reading  of  the  Parchment  285 

Just  then  a  native  came  to  our  door  and  told 
us  that  the  Chief  of  Tyron  wished  to  see  us.  We 
hastened  to  the  council  chamber,  where,  sitting  on 
the  gold-mounted  chair  was  the  Chief  of  Kyron, 
with  young  Chief  Eric  by  his  side.  Although  these 
two  men  were  no  relation,  and  controlled  entirely 
different  cities,  they  were  the  best  of  friends,  and 
worked  for  each  other's  interest  in  all  things.  Any 
disputes  arising  between  the  two  cities  were  settled 
by  arbitrators.  These  men  did  not  believe  in 
settling  their  disputes  by  forcing  their  subjects  to 
shoot  one  another. 

We  were  seated  in  front  of  them,  and  the  Amer- 
ican sailor  acted  as  interpreter.  Presently  the  Chief 
of  Kyron  spoke  to  Minnie,  and  her  face  brightened, 
because  he  spoke  one  of  the  languages  she  under- 
stood, Finnish.  They  held  a  long  conversation, 
which  neither  Bill  nor  I  could  understand.  Then 
stepping  down  from  the  platform,  he  heartily  shook 
hands  with  Bill  and  me,  and  afterwards  we  all  were 
taken  back  to  our  apartments. 

Thinking  perhaps  Minnie  had  been  instructed  not 
to  tell  us  what  he  had  said,  I  asked,  "I  suppose  he 
told  you  not  to  tell  us  your  conversation?" 

"No,   on  the  contrary,   he   instructed   me  to  tell 


286  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

you  every  word  he  had  said,  and  regretted  very 
much  that  he  could  not  speak  English.  Tomorrow 
we  are  to  open  the  sealed  stone  in  the  square.  It 
contains  a  manuscript,  and  if  I  am  able  to  read  It 
to  this  Chief,  I  will  receive  great  honor.  I  can 
have  one  wish  granted  me,  be  it  ever  so  much,  for 
no  one  within  the  memory  of  these  men  has  ever 
been  able  to  read  the  inscription  on  the  stone,  or 
the  manuscript  sealed  therein." 

"During  her  conversation  I  had  not  said  a  word. 
Now  she  turned  and  asked  me,  "If  you  had  your 
greatest  wish,  what  would  it  be?" 

"That  I  might  leave  this  accursed  country  and 
take  you  with  me,  even  if  I  died  in  the  attempt." 

"You  have  fulfilled  your  mission,  and  brought 
me  to  the  end  of  my  journey.  Do  not  hope  to  take 
me  farther,  for  within  my  heart  I  know  that  this 
is  the  place  I  was  destined  for.  Though  this  coun- 
try and  people  may  seem  strange  to  you,  to  me  it 
seems  like  home,  and  I  intend  to  remain  here.  I 
shall  marry  Chief  Eric,  and  be  granted  one  great 
wish,  which  will  be,  to  provide  a  way  for  you  and 
Bill  to  leave  this  country." 

In  return,  I  asked,  "If  Bill  or  I  did  not  exist, 
what  would  your  greatest  wish  be  ?" 


Reading  of  the  Parchment  287 

'That  I  might  be  the  wife  of  Eric,  the  Chief, 
and  give  up  all  thought  of  ever  seeing  any  other 
country  but  Tapond." 

I  saw  it  was  of  no  use,  our  Compass  had  been 
attracted  by  the  Chief,  and  try  as  I  might,  it  was 
hopeless.  So  I  told  her  to  please  herself,  and  only 
hoped  that  she  would  be  happy ;  and  when  she  wa.^ 
asked  for  her  greatest  wish,  let  it  be  that  I  might 
be  executed  where  she  could  see  me  die ;  that  Bill 
might  have  his  freedom  from  the  country  again, 
and  be  given  a  guide,  so  that  he  would  be  sure  to 
reach  the  outer  world  safe  and  sound.  To  this 
she  made  no  reply. 

The  next  day  with  much  pomp  and  splendor, 
amid  a  gathering  of  many  people,  the  sealed  stone, 
standing  in  the  center  of  the  square,  was  opened. 
A  book  written  on  parchment,  was  brought  forth, 
and  with  great  care  taken  back  to  the  palace.  Little 
Minnie,  decorated  in  robes  of  ermine,  with  the 
Chief  of  Kyron  on  one  side  and  Chief  Eric  of 
Tyron  on  the  other,  stood  up  behind  a  kind  of 
pulpit  and  read  aloud  from  this  ancient  book.  I 
could  not  understand  one  word,  and  I  do  not  believe 
there  was  anyone  there  who  did  understand  it, 
other  than  the  Chief  of  Kyron,  until  she  translated  it. 


288  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

Little  did  I  know  this  Minnie,  or  realize  the 
extent  of  her  wisdom,  as  we  braved  the  trail.  She 
was  no  longer  the  Minnie  of  old.  In  her  beautiful 
robes,  what  a  contrast  she  was  to  the  little  figure 
on  the  glacier,  dirty,  ragged,  and  unkempt. 

Bill  remarked,  "You'll  soon  get  over  it,  Pro- 
fessor ;  too  much  wisdom  is  not  good  in  a  woman. 
She  must  be  innocent  and  dependent  in  order  to 
retain  a  man's  love." 

Nevertheless,  I  realized  only  that  I  loved  her.  I 
recalled  her  as  she  helped  draw  the  sled  on  the 
Skagway  trail,  and  now  to  see  her  mounted  behind 
a  pulpit  reading  to  the  leader  of  a  country !  Such 
a  change  was  more  than  I  could  stand,  and  my  head 
seemed  to  whirl,  and  I  reeled  and  fell — I  don't 
know  why. 


The  Wedding 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THE  WEDDING. 

The  next  morning  I  awoke  and  started  to  lift 
my  head  from  the  pillow,  but  found  myself  too 
weak  to  do  so.  By  my  side  was  a  strange  girl, 
young  and  beautiful,  who  was  fanning  me  and  bath- 
ing my  head.  Bill  soon  came  in  and  I  had  a  talk 
with  him,  and  he  agreed  with  me  that  I  had  lost 
my  Compass,  and  it  had  surely  found  its  attraction, 
for  she  did  not  so  much  as  want  to  see  me,  and 
intended  to  marry  the  Chief. 

After  a  great  deal  of  persuasion  from  Bill,  I 
promised  to  leave  the  country  with  him  and  go  back 
to  the  United  States  as  soon  as  I  was  able,  for 
Minnie  had  told  him  that  this  would  be  her  one 
demand  of  the  Chief. 

Minnie  never  came  to  see  me  after  that,  although 
I  was  ill  for  days. 

As  soon  as  I  was  able  to  be  up  again,  the  Ameri- 
can sailor  announced  that  Chief  Eric  wished  to  see 

801 


292  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

me.  I  thought  at  first  that  I  would  not  see  him, 
but  again  I  thought  perhaps  I  might  in  some  way 
persuade  him  to  give  me  back  my  Compass  and 
allow  me  to  leave  the  country,  on  a  promise  that 
we  would  never  reveal  any  of  its  secrets,  or  the  way 
to  enter  it. 

When  I  met  him  he  treated  me  very  kindly,  and 
asked  me  to  come  and  sit  by  him.  He  had  a  lengthy 
conversation  with  the  sailor  in  the  native  tongue, 
which  the  sailor  translated  to  me,  and  now  and 
then  he  would  ask  me  a  question,  such  as : 
"What  country  did  you  come  from?  What  re- 
ligion have  you?  Where  did  you  meet  this  girl? 
Were  you  ever  married  to  her?  Do  you  think 
she  loves  you?  Could  you  give  her  up  without 
much  sorrow,  providing  it  would  give  her  much 
happiness  ?  Would  you  do  anything  in  your  power 
to  make  her  happy?" 

Then  the  sailor  told  me  that  the  Chief  had  said 
to  him  that  he  intended  to  marry  our  Little  Com- 
pass, not  altogether  because  she  was  able  to  read 
the  legend,  but  because  he  loved  her,  and  from  all 
appearances  she  loved  him. 

The  sailor  assured  me  that  it  was  useless  for  me 
to  seek  the  love  of  Minnie,  for  she  had  been  at- 


The  Wedding  293 

tracted  in  an  opposite  direction,  and  like  the  story 
we  had  told  him  of  the  iron  mountain,  no  power 
could  draw  her  away.  Even  though  the  Chief  had 
avoided  her  presence  for  a  long  time,  her  mind  was 
made  up.  He  said  that  I  had  better  use  good  judg- 
ment and  leave  the  girl  to  her  pleasant  fate,  for  in 
this  world  we  are  all  born  free,  and  we  should  be 
able  to  retain  that  freedom  throughout  our  lives. 
It  should  not  be  interfered  with  by  any  person,  and 
for  me  to  continue  to  seek  the  love  and  affection 
of  a  woman  who  did  not  love  me  in  return  was 
denying  that  woman  her  freedom. 

"These  are  the  words  of  the  Chief,"  he  continued. 
"He  also  says  that  in  this  country  there  are  many 
beautiful  women  only  too  glad  to  make  your  ac- 
quaintance, and  perhaps  you  could  win  the  heart 
of  some  one  of  these,  to  supply  you  with  the 
affection  you  so  much  desire." 

"Tell  him,"  said  I,  "that  there  is  no  other  woman's 
love  that  could  fill  the  place  of  my  Compass,  but 
that  now  as  he  is  the  attraction  of  that  compass 
I  will  forfeit  all  interest  in  her,  and  do  my  best 
to  forget.  My  only  request  of  him  is,  that  I  can 
be  removed  to  some  part  of  this  country  where  I 
will  never  come  in  contact  with  her,  in  case  I  have 


294  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

to  remain  here." 

At  this  he  dismissed  us  and  placed  around  my 
neck  a  chain,  on  which  was  a  small  gold  medal, 
which  the  sailor  informed  me  was  a  pension  and 
pass  to  any  part  of  their  country,  that  I  could  go 
unmolested  and  without  expense  wherever  I  saw  fit. 

When  I  returned  to  our  apartment,  I  met  Bill  and 
said,  "Hello,  Bill,  where  have  you  been?" 

"Oh,  I  have  been  out  in  the  bloomin'  park,  taking 
a  sunbath.  A  jolly  fine  place,  doncherknow.  I 
say,  Professor,  while  I  was  out  there  I  chanced  to 
meet  Minnie,  and  had  a  little  chat  with  her  about 
the  manuscript  taken  from  the  sealed  stone." 

"Did  she  tell  you  what  it  was  all  about,  Bill?" 

"Oh,  yes,  she  told  me  that  it  was  a  history  of  the 
first  people  who  discovered  this  beautiful  lake  and 
named  the  country  Tapond,  meaning  "teapot,"  for 
the  spout  of  hot  water  which  supplies  the  lake 
resembles  the  spout  of  a  teapot,  doncherknow.  They 
were  Norwegian  pirates,  fleeing  from  justice,  who 
passed  through  the  Northern  channel  and,  like  many 
others,  their  ship  was  crushed  in  the  blasted  ice. 
The  occupants  of  the  ship,  consisting  of  eight 
women,  who  were  prisoners,  and  fifteen  men,  suc- 
cessfully reached  this  hot  lake  and  remained  here. 


The  Wedding  295 

"After  a  time  the  pirate  chiefs  disagreed ;  the 
stronger  one  drove  the  weaker  one  to  the  opposite 
side  of  the  lake,  where  he  established  another  city, 
and  for  the  rest  of  their  lives  they  lived  apart.  From 
time  to  time  strangers  arrived  by  accident  in  the 
country,  which  helped  to  increase  the  population, 
and  these  strangers  each  time  brought  news  of  the 
advancement  of  the  world. 

"The  fear  of  these  pirates  that  justice  would 
overtake  them  caused  them  never  to  permit  anyone 
to  leave  the  country  during  their  life.  When  a 
chief  would  die,  a  new  one  was  selected,  under  oath 
to  carry  on  the  laws  of  the  country  just  as  they 
were  started.  They  were  always  glad  to  have  more 
strangers  arrive  to  help  populate  the  vast  rich  land 
that  they  had  discovered.  The  rest  of  the  bloomin' 
book  was  simply  the  laws  of  the  country." 

"Did  she  ask  for  me,  Bill?"  I  anxiously  inquired. 

"Not  exactly,"  Bill  answered,  "but  she  asked  me 
to  tell  you  goodbye  for  her,  and  she  was  a  bit  cold 
about  it,  doncherknow.  She  said  she  never  ex- 
pected to  see  you  again.  Tomorrow,  she  said  you 
and  I  were  to  be  removed  from  the  country.  A 
jolly  fine  joke,  doncherknow.  My  word,  I  don't 
know  whether  I  want  to  be  off  or  not,  for  it  is  a 


296  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

deucedly  fine  country.  She  says  to  take  all  the  dogs 
except  the  leader,  and  the  way  she  says  it  you'd 
think  she  owned  the  bloomin'  country,  doncher- 
know." 

"It's  a  hard  blow,  Bill,  and  I'll  need  your  help  to 
bear  it.  First  we  lost  old  Donovan,  which  was 
very  sad ;  next  we  lost  Nathason,  the  Jew.  I 
risked  my  life  for  him,  for  I  had  advised  him  to 
continue  the  journey  across  the  glacier  with  us. 
It  gives  me  a  cold  chill  now  when  I  think  of  that 
crevice  in  the  ice.  I  can  still  hear  his  groans  far, 
far  beneath  me.  After  that,  there  were  left  only 
you  and  Little  Minnie,  our  Compass,  and  me.  Now 
Bill,  we  have  lost  our  Compass,  and  I  scarcely  can 
keep  my  brain  in  the  right  course  without  her.  Bill, 
give  me  your  hand  and  promise  me  that  you  will 
stay  with  me  until  death,  which  won't  be  long;  for 
as  I  feel  tonight,  my  life  is  short.  I  have  lived  but 
for  a  mission,  which  she  says  is  achieved.  She  is 
through  with  me  now,  so  what  have  I  to  live  for?" 

"Come,  come,  cheer  up,  old  man,"  said  Bill.  "It 
is  a  bit  awkward  to  give  you  such  a  promise — but 
here  is  my  bloomin'  hand,  until  death.  We  may 
have  a  deucedly  hard  jolt  out  of  this  country,  even 
if  they  will  allow  us  to  go,  and  I  dread  the  blasted 


The  Wedding  297 

trip." 

As  the  pale  light  from  the  waves  of  the  lake 
flickered  through  the  room  I  hade  goodnight  to 
Bill,  who  soon  fell  asleep ;  but  I  still  sat  in  deep 
thought,  wondering  why  fate  should  permit  me  to 
meet  one  whom  I  should  learn  to  love  so  dearly,  and 
yet  have  to  lose  so  soon. 

The  next  morning  her  wedding  with  Chief  Eric 
took  place  in  the  square,  under  the  statue,  and  to 
my  surprise  Bill  and  I  were  sent  for  by  the  Chief 
to  attend  the  ceremony.  On  nearing  the  square  we 
were  ushered  to  a  platform,  erected  and  decorated 
for  the  occasion.  Here  we  were  given  choice  seats. 
Our  friend,  the  American  sailor,  came  and  seated 
himself  by  us.  I  asked  him,  "Why  have  I  been 
sent  for?  Does  this  Chief  desire  to  inflict  more 
torment  upon  me,  to  force  me  to  come  here  and 
witness  his  marriage  with  the  woman  I  love?" 

"No,  no,"  the  sailor  replied,  "he  requests  me  to 
tell  you  of  a  great  obstacle  to  the  marriage,  which 
is  yet  to  be  overcome.  It  is  positively  against  the 
laws  of  the  country  to  conduct  any  marriage  without 
the  consent  of  a  girl's  parents,  or  guardian,  who, 
in  the  marriage  ceremony,  must  give  the  maid  to  the 
suitor.     The  Chief  says  he  could  hardly  expect  you 


298  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

to  give  the  hand  of  your  sweetheart  to  another 
man,  so  there  is  but  one  hope  left,  and  that  is  your 
friend  Bill.  He  will  be  called  upon  to  place 
Minnie's  hand  in  the  hand  of  the  Chief." 

I  immediately  jumped  up  and  told  the  sailor  that 
I  had  consented  to  every  whim  or  desire  of  this 
great  Chief,  but  this  last  one.  If  Minnie  must  be 
given  away,  I  would  do  it  myself.  I  had  found 
little  Minnie  on  the  Skagway  trail,  brought  her  safe 
and  sound  all  this  distance ;  and  now  that  she  was 
to  be  presented  to  him,  it  was  my  place  to  perform 
that  duty. 

I  asked  the  sailor  not  to  tell  the  Chief,  but  to 
notify  me  when  the  time  arrived  to  perform  this 
act,  which  he  did. 

When  I  placed  Minnie's  hand  in  that  of  the  Chief. 
a  great  light  of  satisfaction  stole  over  her  face,  and 
she  seemed  to  be  herself  again,  happy  and  con- 
tentedv 

After  the  ceremony  was  over,  both  Minnie  and 
the  Chief  put  their  arms  around  me,  for  in  their 
happiness  they  overlooked  my  sorrow. 

There  was  no  sleep  for  me  that  night.  I  walked 
the  floor  of  my  apartment  until  the  grey  light  of 
dawn  crept  in  at  my  window. 


The  Wedding  299 

I  was  only  too  anxious  now  to  start  on  the  jour- 
ney, for  to  leave  this  country  was  to  get  away  from 
the  greatest  sorrow  in  my  life.  It  mattered  little  to 
me  if  I  should  live  to  reach  my  destination  or  not, 
for  life  had  no  charm  left. 

When  Bill  awoke,  he  looked  at  me  and  exclaimed, 
"My  word,  Professor,  what  has  happened  to  you? 
Your  beard!  Your  hair!  Drot  it,  it  is  white! 
What  have  you  done?  Blast  it!  Have  I  slept  the 
sleep  of  Rip  Van  Winkle,  or  has  this  bloomin' 
change  come  over  you  in  one  night?  By  Jove, 
twenty  years  has  added  to  your  appearance. 

"No,  Bill,"  I  answered,  "it  has  been  only  one 
night,  but  you  have  slept,  while  I  have  suffered." 

I  looked  in  a  small  pocket  mirror,  and  it  was, 
indeed,  as  Bill  had  said.  My  hair  and  beard  were 
white,  and  there  were  deep  wrinkles  in  my  face. 
I  had  become  an  old  man  in  one  night.  When  I 
saw  this,  I  said  to  Bill,  "We  must  be  off  early,  for 
Minnie  must  never  see  me  again.  She  could  not  be 
happy  the  rest  of  her  life  and  know  the  blow  she 
has  dealt  me." 


Leaving  the  Country 


SOI 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

LEAVING    THE    COUNTRY. 

Early  as  it  was.  we  found,  at  the  door,  two  of  the 
best  guides  in  the  country,  with  a  large  elephant. 
Our  dogs  and  outfit  were  all  in  readiness,  and  we 
were  soon  on  our  journey. 

We  learned  from  one  of  our  guides  that  Minnie 
had  promised  to  pay  the  penalty  with  her  life,  if 
either  of  us  ever  revealed  the  secrets  of  the  land, 
or  the  true  route  to  this  country.  This  promise 
secured  for  us  our  freedom,  and  a  permit  from 
Chief  Eric  to  leave  the  country,  and  be  furnished 
with  guides  to  cross  the  divide  to  the  Arctic 
Ocean. 

After  traveling  several  days  towards  the  Rockies, 
the  climate  got  so  cold  that  the  elephant,  which  we 
had  been  riding,  had  to  be  exchanged  with  a  native 
for  a  morox  and  a  cart,  similar  to  the  one  in  which 
we  entered  the  country  of  Tapond.  We  were  taken 
to  the  low  divide  in  the  Rockies,  and  here  were 


304  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

furnished  a  new  guide,  part  Eskimo,  who  could  not 
speak  to  us,  yet  did  all  of  our  cooking  and  most  of 
the  work  for  two  months. 

Before  we  started  across  the  mountains,  we  saw 
the  great  outlet  of  the  hot  lake,  which  flowed  into 
a  cave ;  and  by  signs  we  were  given  to  understand 
that  this  river  did  not  appear  again  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Rockies,  but  continued  underground 
until  it  entered  the  sea. 

We  traveled  now  by  means  of  sleds  and  our 
nine  dogs,  for  by  this  time  the  pups  were  in 
harness,  the  mother  being  the  leader.  While  the 
journey  was  by  no  means  pleasant,  the  hardships 
were  nothing  in  comparison  to  those  endured  on  the 
trip  into  the  country. 

After  spending  many  weeks  on  the  coast  of  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  we  sighted  a  whaling  ship.  Dividing 
our  outfit  with  the  Eskimo  guide  and  giving  him 
two  dogs,  we  started  him  back  to  his  country ;  while 
we  hitched  up  our  dogs  and  headed  for  the  ship, 
which  we  could  see  far  in  the  distance  across  the 
ice.  We  had  a  good  supply  of  food,  and  after  two 
days'  travel  across  rough  ice,  we  reached  the  ship, 
which  was  manned  by  Russian  sailors — only  to  find 
it  frozen  in  the  channel. 


Leaving  the  Country  305 

We  remained  on  board  of  the  ship  all  summer, 
and  floated  with  the  ice  through  the  channel  to  the 
coast  of  Siberia.     From  there  we  went  to  Nome. 

By  that  time  the  beach  diggings  had  been  stopped 
by  the  American  officials,  and  the  mining  claims 
that  had  been  taken  up  on  the  beach  by  the  individ- 
ual miner  had  been  taken  away  from  them  by  the 
government  and  sold  to  syndicates.  When  I  saw  this 
I  recalled  what  the  old  sailor  had  told  me,  that 
syndicates  and  capitalists  would  soon  take  their 
beautiful  country  from  them  if  its  existence  were 
discovered.  For  this  reason,  and  for  Minnie's  sake, 
Bill  and  I  decided  then  and  there  that  we  would 
never  give  the  public  the  true  route  to  that  country. 

We  stayed  in  Nome  a  few  days  looking  for 
work,  when  we  heard  the  news  of  the  strike  of  gold 
on  Candle  Creek,  eighty  miles  below  Nome,  dis- 
covered by  Blankenship. 

"Professor,  it  is  a  blasted  sight  better  to  be  in 
this  bloomin'  country  broke,  than  in  the  United 
States  with  a  hundred  dollars  in  your  pocket,"  Bill 
remarked. 

So  we  decided  to  go  to  Candle  Creek,  for  I  was 
personally  acquainted  with  Blankenship,  the  dis- 
coverer, and  had  on  several  occasions  befriended 


306  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

him  the  winter  that  I  had  stayed  in  the  Atlin  country, 
British  Columbia,  and  I  was  sure  that  if  I 
should  meet  him  he  would  put  me  off  right.  We 
still  had  about  one  hundred  dollars  in  nug- 
gets with  us,  brought  from  the  cave  in  the  iron 
mountain ;  so  we  bought  supplies  enough  to  take 
us  to  the  new  discovery,  and  when  we  paid  for  the 
supplies  with  these  nuggets,  the  merchant  looked  at 
us  in  wonder,  and  said : 

"Boys,  you  did  not  get  that  gold  around  these 
diggin's,  did  you?" 

When  we  assured  him  that  we  had  not,  he  made 
several  attempts  to  learn  what  part  of  the  coun- 
try we  hailed  from.  Of  course  we  did  not  reply. 
The  sight  of  this  gold  started  a  stampede,  and  the 
next  morning  crowds  of  miners  surrounded  us,  and 
offered  us  one-half  interest  in  all  they  could  get 
if  we  would  tell  them  where  this  gold  came  from. 
We  simply  told  them  that  it  was  impossible  to  get 
any  more  where  we  got  this. 

So  Bill  and  I  went  to  Candle  Creek,  and  staked 
a  claim  that  made  us  both  immensely  wealthy. 
Although  each  day  our  claim  produced  great 
quantities  of  gold,  it  had  no  charms  for  me.  I  was 
gradually  failing,  and  I  seemed  in  reality  to  be  as 


Leaving  the  Country  307 

old  as  I  looked. 

At  last  Bill  suggested  that  we  sell  our  claim,  and 
go  to  Southern  California  for  my  health,  which  we 
did.  I  soon  found,  however,  that  climate  was  not 
what  I  was  looking  for.  for  here  as  I  relate  these 
last  words,  with  Bill's  big.  brawny  hand  across  my 
burning  forehead,  I  know  my  end  has  come. 

"Bill,  my  friend,  in  yon  clothes-bag  you  will  find 
a  diary  of  our  trip.  Add  to  it  what  I  have  for- 
gotten, but  be  careful  in  all  you  say — don't  give  the 
true  route  to  that  country.  I  place  the  medal  and 
chain  of  gold — given  me  by  Chief  Eric — around 
your  neck,  Bill,  in  acknowledgment  of  a  true 
friend.  I  feel  that  my  mission  is  achieved  and  I  am 
leaving  little  Minnie  happy,  with  the  dream  of  her 
life  fulfilled." 

"To  you,  Bill,  these  are  my  last  words : — The 
measure  of  a  man's  power  is  the  love  in  the  heart  of 
him — a  love  that  seeks  not  its  own,  but  sacrifices  his 
love  to  the  one  she  loves.  This  is  true  love, 
after  all." 


"Bill,  whip  up  the  dogs !     The  ice  is  giving  down, 
and  it  is  a  long  way  to  shore.     Mush !     Mush  on, 


308  Attraction  of  the  Compass 

there !  Look !  look  Bill !  There  is  the  Jew  crawl- 
ing out  of  the  crevice !  I  tried  to  save  him !" — and 
as  he  fell  back  on  his  pillow,  his  light  went  out. 


I've  done  my  bloomin'  best  with  his  diary,  and 
have  placed  my  pal  to  rest  in  a  little  green  spot  in 
the  sunny  state  of  California. 

On  a  marble  slab  at  his  head,  is  this  same  in- 
scription : 


"We  know  not  whence  we  came  or  where  we  go. 
Believe  as  we  will,  we  do  not  know." 


END. 


